Madness
by Kalenath Shok-Tan
Summary: In all things. there are limits. Every strength has limits. Some are easy to see, others, not so much. This is a fanfiction, I won none of the rights to Warframe.
1. Chapter 1

**Madness**

It wasn't the cold of the derelict spacecraft that made the Tenno cautious. Caution was pretty much a byword when infiltrating any location that Infested in it. If one of them saw you, _all_ of them knew quickly where you were and what you were doing. The Tenno who called herself Michelle wasn't sure if it was a group mind, hive mind or something else. What she was sure about was that the Tenno as a whole needed information ad she was the best choice to... She sank back into the darkness as a howl spilt the air around her. More echoed. They were close and getting closer. She didn't curse aloud, she raised her Braton Mk-1 rifle and waited. She didn't have to wait long, but... Her eyes went wide under her Saryn warframe's helmet as the pack of chargers that she heard galloped by her and kept right on going, never noticing her in the shadows.

_What the-...?_ Michelle shook her head a minuscule amount. _No other Tenno here. Supposedly anyway... Nothing for it. I have to get the datamasses._

Her mission was clear. Get information and get crept forwards, her rifle ready as she watched all around for enemies, but none showed themselves. She didn't want to shoot, it would be a bright red 'I am here' sign to every infested on the ship. But if it was a choice between shooting or being lunch, well... She would shoot. Michelle was, after all, a Tenno.

She had so many questions. What had happened? Her memory was a fuzzy mess. The last thing she remembered was getting into the cryopod that she had been assigned. So much death. So much destruction. She had grown up in the middle of a war, bred and trained to fight. But still. The voice of the woman -the Lotus- (and why was that so familiar?) that had woken her. The mindless and not so mindless army of degenerating clones that had apparently swore to exterminate the Tenno. A group of religious nutballs who controlled the trade for the entire solar system with an iron grip of mechanical monstrosities and cult indoctrination. And then... the Infested.

Michelle checked her Ether Swords again, more out of a need to do something with her hands than any doubt. Keeping her weapons clean and ready was a reflex. She had fought... for... She paused. What was that noise? It wasn't anything she recognized. It wasn't an Infested. It was...almost the moan of a Runner, but... not quite. She had fought the Infested both in this time and...before. She shook herself. Time to reflect when she wasn't knee deep in the odd flora that dominated Infested hives. Not that Infested built things. They took over abandoned structures and derelict spacecraft. Or so she had been told. This was...different. She shook herself again.

She skulked in the shadows until she found a terminal and started hacking it, the rudimentary encryption a things of seconds to bypass. She didn't even need to use any of the single use ciphers that she had brought. The datamass appeared in the slot and she holstered her Braton, pulling a Hikou throwing star out of its holder while she picked up the datamass. She turned and froze.

An Infested Charger was staring at her. It had apparently come around the corner just as she turned. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Michelle or the Infested. She didn't think, her hand spun and the throwing star embedded itself in the eye of the head that hung down below the creature's misshapen form. It went down without a sound, but the calls and cries of the monster's pack made her scowl under her helmet as she ran towards the next indicated terminal. So much for easy...

The battle got progressively more difficult as Michelle delved deeper into the derelict. It had been a Corpus ship once. That was clear from the architecture and the inane AI that kept blaring orders and nonsensical messages to non-existent crewmen. Really, guardrails? Michelle didn't have time to shake her head as she darted from one corridor to another, gathering datamasses in between fights. A few times, Infested interrupted her while she was hacking and she had to go back and start over after dispatching her enemies. Finally, she had all the datamasses and started for the exit, only to pause as the Lotus sounded in her head.

_Things just got interesting..._ The Lotus said and Michelle cursed silently as her mission parameters changed on her HUD. _There is a hostage on this ship. Rescue them now._

Michelle did not argue, even though she was tired and hurt. Tenno were weapons, it was what they did. What they were. She was running low on munitions. Her rifle had one clip left and she was on her last set of throwing blades. Technically, she would be well within her rights to withdraw. There was a difference between honor and stupidity. If she died in the course of this mission, the data would be lost again. But... If she left the hostage to the Infested... Could she live with herself?

Michelle shook herself and started towards the new waypoint. She would find ammunition. And if she did not? Her swords were easy to hand.

Suddenly, she was on the ground, the datamass sliding away to land near the foot of the Infested Ancient that had just blindsided her. She cursed aloud and flipped to her feet, her blades coming to hand as the monstrosity charged. She thanked the Ancients that it wasn't a Toxic. If she had to fight one of _those_ with swords, she might as well run now. She darted to the side as the huge Infested tried to slam her with a pseudopod, her blades coming down on the extended flesh and slicing it without slowing, cutting deep into the monster's side as well. The Ancient screamed, a horrid sound of pain from an inhuman throat but Michelle was unmoved. She sliced again, this time a crosscut with both blades and the Ancient staggered as the Ether Swords bit deep into its flesh despite its unnatural resilience. The Ancient seemed to stare at her before falling over and curling up on the ground, its lifeblood pooling. A brown box fell out of its side and Michelle took a deep breath before picking up the box of pistol ammunition charges. Her warframe would use them to make more throwing stars. She picked up the datamass and started off again.

It was odd. She didn't see any more Infested. That didn't make any sense. They had to know that she had killed one of their big ones. They always knew when one of their own was slain. So..why...? She didn't know so she kept a full alert as she made her way through the silent ship. She could almost feel scrutiny on her, but that didn't make any sense. She reached what would have been the detention area on a regular Corpus ship and started searching the cells, one part of her awareness still watching for enemies. Finally, her warframe sensors picked up a life form inside one of the cells and she keyed the override to open it, but what met her eyes was _not_ a hostage! It was a Corpus crewman! She nearly put a throwing star into the silent form before she realized that 1) The man wasn't armed and 2) He was praying. He looked up at her.

"Kill me." His voice was calm, but pleading. Michelle shook her head and waved for him to move. He shook his and then paused as she raised her hand that held a throwing star. "I will not help you, Betrayer!" He snapped, returning to his kneeling position.

Michelle sighed silently, shrugged and then threw the blade. The crewman jerked as the blade embedded itself in the floor in between his knees.

"Move or die." Michelle said calmly. "Your choice."

"I am already dead." The Corpus snapped in response.

Michelle shrugged and her hand spun. A throwing star found a thin spot on the crewman's jumpsuit. He went down in a heap and lay there as she held out her hand.

"No!" He screamed. His scream became a long drawn out wail of agony that tapered off as she digitized his form and stored it. She spun to go and froze as a _huge_ shadow appeared in the door she had entered.

_Phorid... _ Michelle swallowed and slid into the empty cell. She checked her weapons. There was no way she could fight this things hand to hand. She had limited energy and limited ammunition. She had no idea why the monster was here, it was usually found near the Naeglar planetoid. The ship was fairly close to that, but not really.

_Tenno..._ The voice was a savage grunt that seemed to echo through Michelle's mind. _Reject the frailties of the flesh. Let us in._

Michelle did not respond. Instead she moved so she could see the walkway that traversed the detention area. She saw a huge form move slowly, looking this way and that. She tensed as it turned toward the cell she was in, but then it seemed to pause. She flinched as it howled, but then, it ran off away from the direction she needed to go. She wasn't about to question her good fortune, instead she ran. But her luck ran out almost as soon as she started to run.

The corridor ahead of her was _packed_ with Infested. All kinds of infested. Michelle snarled and hit her most powerful ability. A wave of noxious chemicals spewed from her shoulder vents and quickly saturated the area. Quick as thought, another chemical exuded from her arm vents as she tilted them properly. By themselves, the two chemicals were nasty smelling and would be toxic in high concentrations. In combination? There was a reason that the warframe was named after a poison gas.

The Infested in the hallway barely had time to scream as her chemicals combined into a _very_ nasty bioagent that melted flesh and bone with equal abandon. Luckily for Michelle, her warframe was equipped to counter the agent, so _she_ was unaffected. But every other form in the hallway, from Charger to Ancient, hit by the bio-chemical weapon. The lesser forms, the Chargers, Runners and Leapers, were turned immediately into piles of green goo. The Ancients, four of them, were all badly hurt by the chemical reaction and stunned. Not for long, but just long enough for Michelle to run and slide through them. She took to her heels as she heard Phorid scream behind her. She did not look back.

Michelle didn't bother to fight. She ducked, dodged and hurdled a few enemies as she ran. Behind her, she could hear Phorid screaming in rage and she kept on running, the datamass secure in her hand as she used every acrobatic trick at her disposal to avoid enemies. She ran and ran, finally reaching the area where her ship was...

Her ship wasn't there! The airlock was blank metal! She was trapped!

"No..." Michelle breathed. Then she turned slowly to see the horde of Infested that she had avoided come into sight behind her. She set the datamass down carefully next to the airlock. Maybe another Tenno would come and find it. She shook her head, checking her energy levels. 10%. Not even enough power to charge her blades with Contagion. She shook her head, drew her swords and stepped out of the small airlock room.

The horde of Infested paused as they saw her step to meet them. Then they charged. The only bit of good news was that with so many Infested it was impossible for Phorid to get at her physically. The bad news? It didn't need to. Michelle had just sliced the head off her third Runner when a set of energy bolts came arcing around the corners. Her blocked with her swords, but she couldn't block them all. Two of them made it past her guard, slamming into her with enough force to knock her back into the corridor wall. She landed in a heap, rolled onto her back and started throwing Hikou at the oncoming Infested, killing several. Then, when she reached for another star, her hand met empty air. She was out. She was done. A Leaper jumped at her and she screamed as it's claws lanced into her warframe. The pain was...

* * *

Michelle woke up screaming. She couldn't move! She couldn't see! She was...

"Whoa!" A male voice snapped. "Easy miss!" Michelle jerked as a hand found her arm, but she couldn't move! She was lying on something and her arms and legs were bound! She reacted as she had been trained. She fought. "What the hell?" The voice snapped. "Why is she reacting like this, doc?"

"No idea." Another male voice said sharply. "Thorazine. Now." Something stung Michelle on the arm and she was suddenly floating. "There we go..." The voice said, soothing, calming. "Easy, Ma'am. You are okay. Just relax." Sudden bright light hurt her eyes and Michelle could not fight back a groan. She focused past the light on the form that was shining the bright thing in her face. "There we go. She will be calmer now."

"I thought she was going to stroke there for a moment, doc." The first voice said with a concern in the tone. "She wasn't violent when they brought her in."

"She wasn't _conscious_, Orderly."T he doctor replied with a snort. "Ma'am? Can you hear me?" Michelle did not respond and the doc sighed. "Dang it. She shouldn't be out from that dose, just calmer. Check her vitals." Various things pressed into Michelle's body. She could feel an odd garment on her now. It felt...thin, like patient gown. She had been in the hospital more than a few times in her career.

"Doc, she is awake." The orderly replied cautiously. "But not responding? Why?"

"No idea." The doctor replied slowly. "Actually..." He paused. "She is acting like... No it can't be."

"What?" The orderly asked.

"The only other people I have seen act like this were prisoners of war." The doctor said softly. "Which makes no sense at all."

"She is not a soldier, doc." The orderly laughed sourly. Michelle stiffened. What? "She is only sixteen!"

"I know what." The doc said softly. "You know that. We need to do a full neural workup. There may have been brain damage. Do not let her out of the bed, orderly." He said sternly. "She is a suicide risk."

"Only need to look at her wrists to see that, doc." The orderly said sadly. Michelle cracked her eyes and stared down at herself. Her body was lying on a bed, her wrists and ankles secured to the bed with some kind of padded restraints. But it was what circled her wrists above the restraints that had her freezing. Bandages. She saw the two forms in medical garb nearby, but it looked...off. Wrong. Or... not wrong. Archaic. One of the male forms nodded to her and the voice of the doctor came from it.

"Michelle..." He said gently. "It's okay. We won't hurt you. We want to help."

Michelle shook her head and focused in on herself. She was a prisoner! She couldn't break the bonds that held her, so she had only one recourse. But... the biofeedback technique she had been taught didn't work! Her heart didn't slow or stop! What the...?

"It's okay, Ma'am."The doctor said softly. "You are in Central State Psychiatric Institute. We will help you."

_What the hell...?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Floating**

Michelle was warm. She was safe. She was calm and everything was fine. Nothing hurt. She was floating in something, but it didn't bother her. Nothing did. She felt fluid move around her and the soft movements continued into her body, but it didn't bother her at all. Someone was crooning to her and she swayed, lost in the odd melody. She was...

* * *

Michelle came awake with a scream. That dream had been so...

"Michelle?" A worried female voice sounded from nearby. Michelle tensed and did not react as a light came on, showing a small room. She was lying on a bed that was the only furniture. A door was the only thing that marred the soft pastel walls. The door had no knob but it was open. Michelle tensed, but her hands and feet were still restrained to the bed. The woman in nurse's attire looked at her, face worried. "You screamed, are you all right?" She asked kindly.

Michelle looked at the human woman and did not speak. The nurse looked at her and sighed.

"Michelle, we are here to help." The nurse said in a gentle voice. "We want to help. Please let us." Michelle looked at the nurse and then pointedly looked away. Whatever was going on here, she was till Tenno. She might be a prisoner, but she would not submit. Not now, not ever! The nurse sighed. "Please don't be that way." The woman said quietly. "We can do this gentle or hard. We prefer gentle." Michelle did not speak and the nurse sighed again. "This is not going to be fun for you. We can make it easier, just say the word." She said as she shut the door and turned off the light.

What had happened? This was nothing like anything Michelle remembered. Her own early life had been in a Tenno colony, a place of strict rules and stricter training. She had excelled at the training, she remembered that. So... what...? These were all humans, she was sure of that. Not Tenno. From the gravity and air pressure, she was on the surface of a planet. Earth? She had never gone to Earth. The closest she had ever gotten to Earth had been a habitat on Luna. She had _seen_ the mother world on that particular mission, it had been hard to miss. But actually going there? No.

This didn't make any sense at all. The outfits of the medical personnel were...wrong. They looked like actual cloth instead of synthetic plastics. The bandages around her wrists were cloth as well, not bio-synthetic. So... Wherever she was, it wasn't Earth, or at least not Earth of the Orokin. She didn't remember much -the cryo-nesia was pervasive- but she did remember being hurt a few times while fighting and having organic bandages. Michelle sighed and tried the restraints again. They didn't even twitch. She went still as a voices sounded.

"She woke up, sir." The nurse's voice was worried. "I heard her scream but she refuses to speak."

"Drat." The voice of the doctor was worried. "I hoped you might get through, Susan. I did some research. She is acting as if she is a prisoner of war."

"_What?_" The nurse demanded, then she gulped. "Sorry, doctor."

"You are not saying anything I _haven't_, nurse." The doctor said sourly. "She is _not_ a prisoner of war. She is a sixteen year old who cut her wrists, bled nearly to death and has brain damage as a result." The light clicked on again, the door opened and the nurse entered, followed by the doctor. "Good morning, Michelle." The doctor said with a smile. "Did you rest well?" Michelle looked at him, but did not respond. The nurse frowned, but the doctor did not. "We will get you some breakfast soon, we need to check some things, okay?" he asked kindly. She did not respond and he nodded. "Nurse."

Michelle went still as the woman pulled a cart into the small room, one with old fashioned medical supplies on it.

"We need to check your injuries, Michelle." The doctor said softly. "Then we need to check your sanitary arrangements." Michelle tensed as he moved to the bedside. "Please..." He begged her. "Don't struggle. You can and will hurt yourself." She just looked at him and he nodded. "Okay... The hard way."

Two large forms in medical garb appeared at the door. Both orderlies looked grim as they stepped to the bed. Michelle screamed as they took hold of her. She hissed and tried to bite, but they were professional. They kept away from her teeth and held her down while the nurse worked quickly and efficiently. Michelle caught sight of a long red wound on her right arm, one that had black things stitched across it. Actual thread stitches? She had read about that somewhere. Those had been phased out near the end of the twentieth century. Or so she thought she remembered. The wound ran from her wrist all the way to her elbow. The nurse clucked absentmindedly as she wrapped bandages around the arm again. Then she uncovered the left arm. The wound there almost exactly the same. Then the woman reached for Michelle's stomach. The woman's face was sad as she... Michelle screamed louder as the woman pulled bandages from her stomach.

* * *

The fluid she was in was soft. It felt warm and safe and everything was good. She felt aches in places, but Michelle didn't really notice. The sound that pervaded her very being was intensifying as she lay, curled up in a fetal ball. Something jarred her a little and Michelle opened her eyes, She saw nothing so she closed them again. It was too much work to stay awake. Too hard to think. Too...

Something pressed against her face. Not hard, but just here. She felt something alien seep past her lips and into her mouth. She did not gag as it forced itself down her throat. She felt something happen and suddenly, her belly that she had barely realized was empty wasn't anymore. It was filling. She was being fed. The slight tenseness that had begun vanished as something soothed her again.

Everything was fine. Michelle was fine. She was...part of the whole. She belonged. This was...

Michelle jerked. This was wrong. What was _wrong_ with her? She was Tenno. She was not a lethargic mass! She was being brainwashed! She had to... She started to thrash, but the sound intensified until she couldn't move, couldn't think. Pain began inside her skull and she screamed into whatever was in her mouth. Super strong...things had hold of her now and she screamed again as pain flared across her body. She was struggling for all she was worth as...

* * *

"Hold her!" The doctor commanded as Michelle thrashed in her bonds. "Damn it! Why did she have to wake now?" The two orderlies held her tight as she tried to break free.

"Doc, she will tear her stitches!" The nurse said, wrong her hands helplessly.

"Right." The doctor said with a sigh. "I hate medicating people, but... I think that may be our only choice. Give me a syringe with 3ccs." The nurse nodded and Michelle went wild as the doctor approached, a gleaming needle in hand. "Hold her arm."

"Trying, sir!" The orderly on her arm said with a grunt. "She is a lot stronger than she looks." Michelle gave a desperate wailing scream as her arm was pinned in place. A stick and she was falling. She wasn't out, just...detached. "Dang..." The orderly said with a swallow. "How long will she be out?"

"She is not, just calmer. I don't know." The doctor replied. "She is not responding to the drugs as she should. We need to do a full neural workup." The orderly sighed and the doctor nodded. "Better to do it now while she is calmer. Watch her teeth."

"I have got it." The orderly replied. Something forced its way into Michelle's mouth and then she heard a buzzing. "We can hold her like this. Do it quick."

"If I do it too quick, I will cut her." The nurse said with a snarl as a tugging started on Michelle's head. Hair was... Hair? Michelle jerked despite the drug and the female nurse cursed. "Hold her! I nearly gashed her!"

"Why the hell is she awake?" The orderly snapped as the hold on her skull tightened. "She _can't_ be with that in her."

"Apparently she _can_." The doctor said with a frown. "We will need to be very careful with her. Keep Simon _away_ from her." This was a command.

"Yes sir." The orderly said with a wince. "Although if he _does_ try anything, she is likely to bite pieces off him and we could have some peace and quiet for a bit."

"Don't even _joke_ that." The doctor said with a snap as the tugging on Michelle's head continued. Then the buzzing stopped. "All done?" Michelle felt cool air across her scalp.

"Yes sir." The nurse said sadly. "I think I gashed her. Let me see..." Hands were gently touching Michelle's skull now and she hissed as something hurt. The nurse cursed under her breath. "Dang it! I did."

"Not your fault. Here." The doctor passed a bandage to the nurse in Michelle's field of view and Michelle felt something sticky adhere to her skin. A plastic adhesive bandage? A Band-Aid? Those hadn't been used in millennia! "Thanks, guys." The doctor said gratefully. "Hopefully we can figure out why this is happening and fix it."

"Good luck doc." The orderly replied. Whatever was in her mouth was pulled out and gasped for air as her mouth shut tight again. "If you need us again, call."

"I will get the neural cart, Susan." The doctor replied. "You check her diaper."

"Always the _fun_ jobs..." Susan complained half whimsically as Michelle felt hands lower down her body. "Easy, Michelle... Let me... Ah..." She sighed. "With all that exertion, of course you filled it. Please don't struggle." The nurse begged. "You can't break those restraints and I don't want to leave you to lie in your filth." Michelle snarled at the nurse and the woman sighed again. "I know you are in there, girl. We will find a way to help you. I promise." The woman said as cool air wafted over Michelle's nether regions. Michelle jerked but couldn't move. Had the nurse sat on her? The woman spoke in a gentle voice was movement and pressure mounted. "I like this _about_ as much as you do, Michelle. Easy..." She crooned as something eased around and under Michelle. "There, all done." A hand patted her shoulder. "We will help you, girl."

"Yes we will." The doctor replied as he pushed a cart of his own into the room. "Help me set up the EEG."

"Right." The nurse replied and something cool was being wiped on Michelle's skull. It felt...familiar. She screamed and...

* * *

This was...wrong. The pressure was mounting on Michelle's body and mind. It was _all_ wrong. What was happening to her? She remembered fighting. The Infested had hurt her, she remembered that. But then...they had stopped? One of them, the large one, Phorid, had commanded them to stop? That made no sense at all.

Infested saw all organic forms as fuel or hosts. They either ingested the unfortunates or infected them and created more of themselves that way. As a Tenno, Michelle already had the Technocyte virus inside her, if a different version than the one that was running rampant across almost a third of the Solar System. She... why...?

She opened her eyes again, but there was no light. She tried to move her hands, to rip the tube from her mouth, but when she tried, pain flared through her and she screamed into the tube. She was hurt. She was still injured. How long had it been? How long did she have until she was ingested?

_You are not to be._

Michelle went stiff. The voice was everywhere.

_Have no fear, Tenno._ The voice said, almost kindly. _You will be...remade. A better form. A more advanced form. You will belong. You will serve._

_No..._ Michelle managed to grate out past the pressure on her mind. _I... will... not..._ She began the biofeedback suicide technique that all Tenno were taught and...

* * *

"...what is happening?" The nurse's voice was sharp. Michelle felt...wrong. Everything felt wrong. Laden and light at the same time.

"I don't _know_." The doctor's voice was just as sharp. "She just... It is as if her heart started to slow in time with her brainwaves! Which isn't possible!"

"If it keeps up, she will arrest!" The nurse said, fear in her voice now. An alarm wailed nearby and she gasped. "She is coding! What do we _do_?"

"Defib!" The doc snapped. "Now." Michelle's chest suddenly was cold and calm clammy things were on her. "Clear!"

Fiery pain slammed into Michelle's chest and she screamed as it suddenly jerked her into immediate lucidity. She felt every nerve, every muscle. She could see everything in the room. She could feel... It was wrong. Everything was wrong. She couldn't... She didn't... She was fading.

"Normal sinus rhythm again." The nurse said at the edge of her perceptions. "What the _hell_ was that?" Fear sang in her tone.

"I have no idea." The doctor said with a sigh. "And until we do, she has to stay as she is. I need to...see what this abnormal brain wave stuff is. It may take a while. We should let her rest, recover."

"I will see if I can get her to eat." Susan said sadly. "She will need it."

"She will." The doctor replied just as sadly. "But she is alive and where there is life, there is hope. We are not going to give up on you, Michelle. " A hand patted Michelle's arm but she was too drained to respond. "Be gentle, but don't take any chances."

"I won't." Susan replied softly. "Sleep Michelle." The woman said sadly. "It will be okay." She promised. Michelle drifted off into a world of odd monsters and flashing lights.

* * *

She was lost. Nothing she did could halt the influx of alien thoughts that overwhelmed her. Michelle couldn't even scream as every bit of her, her core, her very being, was systematically pulled from her mind and examined in clinical detail.

_You will not die._ The mental pressure was immense, but...oddly gentle. _We will use you. You will serve._

_Never._ Michelle managed to scrape up defiance from somewhere, but then screamed as power flared across her again.

_Your defiance is misguided Tenno._ The voice said calmly. _You do not need to fight any more. We will welcome you. You will belong._

_No..._ Michelle begged as the alien thoughts seeped deeper and deeper into her mind.

Then, something changed. She was moving, falling. Pain flared through her and she screamed into the tube that was still in her mouth as she landed on something hard.

"What the hell?" A soft, incredulous voice snapped from nearby. It was female and startled. "What the hell is this?"

"Karen!" A male voice snapped. "Don't touch that! Get back!"

Michelle cracked her eyes and although they hurt, she saw. She saw two warframes. A Mag was slowly backing away from her and a Loki was standing nearby, a Lato pistol held steadily in hand, aimed at her. Michelle reached up and pulled the tube from her mouth, gagging as it passed her throat. Both warframes stared at her.

"Brother..." Michelle croaked. "Sister... kill me..."

"Aeron!" The Mag gasped.

"You call me brother and her sister." The Loki replied, his aim point not wavering. "I do not know you."

"Please." Michelle begged. "I don't know if this is real or not. But please! Kill me! Don't..." She saw movement behind the Loki and screamed weakly as Infested charged him. "No!"

She needn't have worried. Before the Infested could even get close to the pair of warframes, a piece of the wall came alive. A black armored form simply oozed from it to slam the Infested with a familiar blade.

"My... My sword..." Michelle said, feeling her meager energy fading. "Kill me... please..." She begged.

"Two, do you know this woman?" The Loki asked as the Banshee warframe turned to them after dispatching the Charger.

"No." The Banshee said softly, examining Michelle. "What about this sword? I found it on a derelict."

"Near a datamass?" Michelle asked weakly. The Banshee froze. "Bunch of dead Infested? Any sign of the other blade or the Saryn who was using them?" All three of the Tenno raised weapons at that.

"How do you know about her?" The Banshee demanded. "What do you know about Michelle?"

"I am Michelle." Michelle said sadly. "Please..." She begged as the three Tenno stared at her. "I live...to serve...and they did something to me... It's inside my head and I can't... I can't..." To her horror, she started to cry. "Please kill me!"

"Aeron..." The Banshee said softly. "I..."

"Instinct says we should do as she asks." Aeron said after a moment. "But orders are that if we find any sign of Michelle to bring it back. I would say this is a sign." He said dryly.

"No." Michelle pleaded, trying to crawl away. "You can't. I don't know what they did. I... No..." She pleaded as the Loki stepped close, hand upraised. "No..." She pleaded again as green anesthetic mist flowed from his gauntlet.

"Sleep, sister." Aeron said gently. "We got you."

As she fell into blackness, Michelle heard evil laughter ringing in her mind. Then it -and she- was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Surprise**

"Look..." The nurse was still patient, gentle and kind. "I know you are stubborn. I know you don't trust us. But you have to eat, Michelle." She held out a filled spoon to the girl again, but Michelle did not move. "If you don't eat, your body won't heal. We can't have that."

Michelle wasn't sure what was going on. She had been...elsewhere. It was all blurry, but she was sure she had seen two, no, three Tenno. She had begged them to kill her and they had knocked her out instead. And then she was back here. Wherever here was. With a nurse who had a steaming bowl of something and was trying to get her to eat. Michelle was still strapped to the bed and unable to move much except her head.

This was wrong. Michelle had never been to Earth. She had never been in a hospital like this. None of this was familiar at all. Someone was playing with her mind. She would not allow it. She would not submit. She was Tenno and Tenno never gave up. Tenno could be killed, but that was the _only_ way to stop them. She ignored the pleading look on the nurse's face and closed her eyes, hoping this odd...whatever it was, virtual world, hallucination, fever dream, whatever, would fade. It didn't. The nurse sighed.

"Michelle, we can put a feeding tube in, keep you fed that way." The woman was stating facts, but was also pleading. "We can put an IV in, keep you hydrated that way. It will hurt you. It will cause long term complications. We want to help you, Michelle, not hurt you." Her voice turned sad. "I know you are confused. I know things don't make a great deal of sense. The...damage..." The nurse swallowed heavily. Michelle froze and the nurse continued. "We can help you. We will help you Michelle, but you have to meet us halfway. You have to _want_ to get better. If you don't, nothing I do, nothing the doctors do, will work."

This was insane. Why was this woman doing this? What had happened? Michelle could feel aches on parts of her body. Pain from healing wounds. But that did not explain why she was in a psychiatric hospital, whatever that was. Or why she was restrained. Psychiatric was... relating to mental illness or its treatment. So... This was a human way of dealing with mental illness? Lock someone to bed? That didn't' make any sense at all to Michelle.

She had heard of mental illnesses of course. Every Tenno was warned extensively during training about the perils of unstable minds. Just the thought of an insane person in a warframe was enough to give Michelle goosebumps. She had to get more information, but carefully. She was vulnerable, so vulnerable now. She slitted her eyes an looked at the nurse who was watching her carefully.

"Why?" Michelle stiffened. Was that her voice? It sounded hoarse. As if...her throat had been damage. It hadn't, had it? The nurse sat up and smiled.

"Why what, dear?" The woman asked with a nod.

"Why am I strapped to the bed?" Michelle asked softly, ignoring all the other oddness to focus on the woman's face and voice. She wouldn't be able to tell for sure if the woman lied without touching her, but humans were far easier to read than Tenno. The woman didn't hesitate.

"You are strapped to the bed because you have been exhibiting self destructive behaviors." The nurse replied evenly. "You hurt yourself." Michelle shook her head and the nurse continued. Now she paused. "What do you remember?"

"Not...much..." Michelle admitted. "What happened?"

"I..." The nurse sighed and then spoke cautiously. "According to the reports we got, Michelle... You got up from playing a computer game, went into your bathroom and slit your wrists. Your roommate called Emergency Services." Michelle went still and the nurse continued. "We can tell that more happened, but not when or... who did it." Michelle froze and the nurse nodded. "There is no way you did some of the injuries we have found. No way at all. It's not physically possible for you to have done them."

"How bad?" Michelle asked, feeling faint.

"You are not going to die." The nurse said firmly. "And if you do what we say, you will get out of that bed. If you don't..." Her voice trailed off.

"I don't believe you." Michelle said with a snarl. "This is some kind of trick. Whatever it is, it won't work."

"No trick, dear." The nurse said calmly. "We want to heal you, help you find out what happened. Make sure it doesn't happen again. But you have to help us. If you fight us, you won't get better." She picked up the spoon again. "And right now, you need to eat. You need nourishment badly." She filled the spoon and held it out. "Please?" She begged.

Michelle stared at her for a moment, then slowly inched her head forward to take the spoon in her mouth...

* * *

"Michelle...?" The soft, worried voice was unfamiliar. Michelle groaned as she worked her way to consciousness. "Easy..." The voice said quietly. "You have had a rough day."

"Should have killed me..." Michelle croaked as she lay, not daring to move. "Infested did something to me. I can feel... I can feel alien thoughts in my head..." Indeed, the feelings of softness, of belonging were still there. They wanted her back. They were calling to her to come back. Begging her to come back. She couldn't shut the voices out. "I am Infested..." She said sadly. "Please kill me!"

"Oh Michelle..." The female voice was very gentle now. "We can't until we find out what happened. This is going to be rough, for you and for us. If we can help you, we will. You have my word on that."

"I don't think you can." Michelle said, opening her eyes. What met them had her freezing. She wasn't on a ship. She wasn't in a Tenno colony. The ceiling of the room was high and vaulted. The walls were soothing colors, and she was lying on a soft mattress. She wore a standard gray Tenno bodysuit But it was the rest that had her freezing. There was no woman in the room. A huge warframe -a Rhino whose armor was almost pure white- stood nearby, a Burston rifle in hand, watching her. She nodded a little to him and he nodded back. But it was the _other_ form in the room that had Michelle nearly jerk out of the bed. The MOA was...violet?

"Easy." The female voice came from the MOA and Michelle felt her world start to spin. MOAs were Corpus proxies. What was a robot from those religious freaks doing in a Tenno facility? And why was it speaking in a language she could understand without a translator? The MOA seemed to bobble a bit. "Good morning." It said in a calm tone as if this kind of thing was commonplace. "My name is Cecelia."

"You are...a MOA." Michelle said slowly, aware that the aim point of the Rhino's rifle hadn't moved.

"Well, duh." The MOA replied with a snort. "Your powers of observation are unimpeded." The MOA turned to the Rhino. "I don't think she will hurt me, Karl Sensei." Michelle stiffened. She knew the name Karl. From the war. She had never met him, but she knew of him. Every Tenno likely did. A peerless warrior and hunter of renegades.

"You don't know that, Cecelia." The Rhino replied calmly, not moving.

"Fine, whatever." The MOA sounded irate for a moment, but then chuckled sourly. "Geez, I should be used to Tenno stubbornness by now, shouldn't I?" For her part, Michelle just stared. A MOA with a sense of _humor_?

"I am insane." Michelle said slowly. "I am hearing voices in my head and now a _MOA_ is talking to me... I am insane..." She said sadly. "Please shoot me." She begged the Rhino.

"What do the voices say?" The Rhino asked calmly.

"It's not..." Michelle closed her eyes and focused on the things inside her head. "It's feelings, not words... I think..." She said dubiously. "I am fuzzy. I hope you have precautions in place."

"We do." Karl replied. "What feelings?"

"Worry. Fear. Longing. A want to...be...part." Michelle heard a hint of wistfulness enter her tone and she squelched it, hard. "That is wrong. I am not... I cannot..."

"Easy." The MOA said gently. "It's okay. We can help you, just relax, okay?" She begged.

"You don't understand." Michelle said with a gulp. "I am seeing things that are not here. I was... I was in a hospital. An old Earth style hospital I think." The Rhino jerked a bit at that and Michelle nodded. "I never went to Earth! I was never in a psychiatric hospital , whatever that is."

"A psychiatric hospital?" The MOA -Cecelia- said softly. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Tell me about it!" Michelle snapped. "I... What happened to me? Do you know?" She asked Karl.

"No." Karl replied. "Your last mission went wrong."

"Ran out of ammo." Michelle said with a wince. "Ran out of power. Phorid was there." Karl jerked and she nodded. "Ran back the airlock, but my ship was gone! Couldn't..." She took a moment to calm herself. "I fought, but there were too many." The MOA turned to look at the Rhino who looked at Michelle. "What?" Michelle demanded.

"The Lotus lost contact with you shortly after you arrived on that derelict, Michelle." Karl said evenly. Michelle felt her guts clench and the Rhino nodded. "Infested tried to access your ship's systems and it self-destructed."

"No..." Michelle said slowly, horror etching her features. "That can't be. I would have detected it."

"Why didn't you call for extraction when you had the datamasses? There were kin close by." Karl asked. "Your warframe records are not clear."

"My... My warframe?" Michelle asked, confused. "It wasn't destroyed?"

"It wasn't." Karl agreed. "Why did you stay on the derelict?"

"Mission update." Michelle said softly. "The Lotus contacted me and told me to retrieve a hostage." She went still. "It...wasn't the Lotus?" Karl shook his head. "Then who? And...why?"

"We don't know." Karl said evenly. "What happened to the hostage?"

"Wasn't a hostage." Michelle said sourly. "It was a Corpus goon. He..." She paused. "He begged me to kill him. I told him to come with me and he refused. So... I digitized him." She shook her head. "Was he recovered?" The MOA looked at the Rhino again and Michelle sighed as he shook his head. "Pity. He might have had information on whatever the hell is happening to me."

"Michelle..." Cecelia's voice was worried. "There were no sign that anyone was stored in your warframe."

"So, what?" Michelle demanded. "I _imagined_ it?" She forced herself calm again. "Sorry... this is... a bit much."

"No one blames you." Cecelia said in a gentle voice. "But we need to find out what happened. Your warframe's buffers were empty, Michelle. No one was inside."

"Maybe the damage I took destroyed the storage systems?" Michelle said, nearly pleading. Karl shook his head and she snapped at him. "What?"

"The damage to your warframe is superficial, Michelle." Karl said quietly. Michelle stilled and he nodded. "It's intact."

"No." Michelle said, trying to think. "I fought, hard. I remember that. I was hurt, bad. I remember that. How long was I gone?"

"Michelle..." Karl said gently. "According to the last set of readings in your warframe, you fought a group of Infested. Then you stopped. You exited your warframe." Michelle felt herself go pale and Karl nodded. "Of your own free will."

"That is... not possible." Michelle felt faint. "They tore into me... Hurt me... I..." She shook herself. "How long was I gone?"

"Michelle, please be calm." Cecelia said urgently. "We want to help. We can. But...calm down. Your vitals are spiking."

"How? Long?" Michelle demanded, propping herself up on her elbows, aware of the Rhino taking very careful aim and the MOA retreating a step. "Please?" She begged. The MOA looked at the Rhino who sighed.

"Your warframe was found beside the datamasses that you had sent for, empty, four months ago." Karl said quietly. Michelle's eyes nearly fell out of her head as large as they got and he nodded. "You have been Missing in Action for four months."

* * *

Michelle jerked awake. She was back in the hospital.

"Oh, not again..." She said sourly, but quietly. If she spoke too loudly, whoever was monitoring the room would investigate. She froze as a voice sounded nearby. It was male..but...wrong.

"Well, well, well..." Michelle turned her head to the side to see a human male in a patient gown sitting where the nurse had been. "New meat. Hello meat." His hand came down and traced her body, not -quite- touching. "Cute meat."

"Touch me and you will beg for death." Michelle said quietly.

"You can't kill me." The man said with a leer. "I am immortal." He gave a shriek as his hand traced too close to hers and she grabbed it. A quick twist and bones popped. Shouts sounded outside but Michelle met the madman's gaze with her own.

"Immortal?" Michelle said with a shrug. "Maybe. But even immortals feel pain." She twisted harder and the man shrieked louder as he went to the floor.

"What the-?" The loud voice of the nurse who had been tending her before heralded the lights coming up, but Michelle did not release her hold. "Simon? How the hell-? Get him _out_ of here!" Two burly orderlies ran in and grabbed the sobbing man from the floor. Michelle waited until they had a firm grip before releasing her own.

"This isn't over, meat!" The man -Simon- snapped.

"Bring it, you scum." Michelle snapped right back. "Touch me again and you will _pray_ for death." Everything stopped for a moment and she shrugged as the orderlies manhandled the would-be molester from the room. For her part, the nurse just stared at Michelle.

"How did you do that?" The nurse asked cautiously.

"Surprise and leverage." Michelle said calmly. "I don't hurt people who don't try to hurt me though. Isn't honorable."

"I...see..." The woman replied, her face a study. "Did he...do anything?"

"I don't think so..." Michelle said softly, thinking. "No, he didn't. He was here when I woke up, but I don't think he had time to do anything."

"May I check?" The nurse asked gently. "You are in our care. Our responsibility. Simon is a nasty piece of work."

"I can't very well say 'No', can I?" Michelle said calmly, relaxing. The nurse did not. "I won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me first." Michelle promised.

"Some of what we do _may_ hurt." The nurse said, stepping slowly to the bedside. "I don't know if it will or not. There are too many unknowns here."

"Will you do it without warning?" Michelle asked with a sigh. The nurse shook her head and Michelle smiled. "Then you have nothing to fear from me."

"Oh, I think I do."The nurse said as she started a quick physical check. "Where did you learn to do that?" Michelle froze. It was on the tip of her tongue to say she had been tried from birth. But she truly had no idea where she was or what was going on. The nurse shook her head. "Never mind. Keep your secrets. I do like that though. I can't physically hurt him, but... Next time he tries to grope me, I might use your threats, if you don't mind."

"He is not a nice person." Michelle agreed as the nurse finished her check. "Anything?"

"No." The nurse said, with a sigh of relief. "Your wounds are healing."

"I saw the wrists and the belly." Michelle said softly. "What else?" The nurse looked at her and Michelle shrugged as best she could. "I don't remember what happened."

"None of your injuries are life threatening, but... They are all consistent with torture." The nurse said softly and Michelle froze. "Yeah. You didn't do it to yourself."

"Physical torture?" Michelle breathed. How barbaric. Tenno could be as vicious as any but they had a Code. They interrogated prisoners, true, but they did not _torture_ them. "How...evil." She said at length.

"Yeah." The nurse replied. "The police are questioning your roommate now, but from what they have said, she seems clueless. Horrified. Either she is a good actress...or..." She shrugged.

"I don't know." Michelle said softly. "I... I don't remember anything like that." Surely she would remember being hurt that way. Right?

"For right now, healing is your priority." The nurse said, moving to the door. "And until we are sure you are not a risk to yourself or anyone who isn't a maniac like Simon..." She chuckled. "Maybe he will back off a bit now. Maybe."

"If I am unstable, I am a danger to everyone around me." Michelle agreed. The nurse paused in the act of turning the lights off and Michelle shrugged. "Nothing..." She said.

"Rest well." The nurse replied. "Simon is going to be busy for while. Getting his wrist looked at, then in time out." She clicked the light switch and Michelle lay back on the bed.

As she nodded off a voice sounded in her head. It sounded like her but...not.

_Good girl. You are almost there..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Joining**

"I don't like this..." Michelle said softly. "I am infected with something. You know it. I know it. You shouldn't be touching me." She carefully did not move as the human doctor who had introduced herself as Amelia finalized connections to Michelle's skull.

"A little fear is understandable." Amelia said with a nod, her hazmat suit's gloves cool on Michelle's jaw. "Don't let it paralyze you though. There." The human said as she withdrew a bit. "All done."

"I... I will try." Michelle said as she squirmed a bit. The bed she was lying on was soft, but the _two_ weapons aimed at her were very disconcerting. A Boltor in the hands of the Banshee she had met before and a Strun shotgun in the hands of a Vauban she hadn't met. He hadn't spoken the whole time. Michelle focused on the doc and not the two black holes pointed at her."You said it will hurt. What do I do?".

"Unfortunately, we cannot do it without pain." Amelia said sadly. 'Your neural paths are all mucked up."

"Mucked up?" Michelle said with a smile, trying to ignore the fluttering in her stomach and the cold devices attached to her skull. "Is that a proper medical term?"

"Oh, don't _you_ start." Amelia said with a small laugh. "Two gives me grief just to do it." Michelle looked at the Banshee who was quivering a bit as if she were suppressing laughter. Then she sighed. "Michelle, this is going to hurt."

"I understand." Michelle said calmly. "Pain and I are old friends, doc. I..." She swallowed and then nodded a little. "I am ready."

"We will be monitoring." Amelia said gently. "No matter what, your memories are just that, memories. They can hurt you or kill you, but _only_ if you let them. We will do our best to pull you out if there are...complications. But there _is_ danger."

"You explained that before doc." Michelle said calmly. "I need to know what the Infested did to me." She bowed her head ."I need to know."

"Okay." Amelia said with a nod of her own. "Start counting back from ten, please."

"Ten, nine, eight..." Michelle felt something happen. A tingling started in her skull, a tingling that quickly became a burning. She forced herself to continue. "Seven...six... five.." She gasped as the pain doubled, and then redoubled. "Four..." She was biting her lip between words and it wasn't helping. "Three..." She held it in, but a scream escaped her mouth anyway. "Two..."

* * *

Michelle landed on her hands and knees on dark deck plates. She was back on the derelict. She was wearing a Tenno bodysuit and...

"No!" Michelle jumped as a young sounding voice screamed from nearby. "Don't..." Michelle looked up to see a young human woman half encased in some kind of pod. "No... please..." The girl was begging as Infested forms slowly spread goo over her. Michelle carefully did not look to see where the goo was coming from. She didn't want to barf. The girl was crying. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

Michelle stared at the girl, entranced. The girl looked like her! Almost exactly like her! But the girl was human. That was easy to tell from the wounds that the poor girl had suffered, wounds that still bled.

"It's okay." A soft voice sounded from nearby and Michelle's eyes went very wide as she saw...herself standing near the pod the girl was being encased in. The...other her wore a strange garment that seemed to be alive instead of Tenno garb or a warframe. Her face was twisted by emotion. It took a moment for Michelle to recognize the emotion. Lust. "We are almost done."

"No..." Michelle breathed, then froze as all eyes turned to her.

"Well, well, well..." The other, darker Michelle said with a leer. "It's about time you showed up. We can't do this without you, Michelle. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

"Who are you?" Michelle demanded as dark forms started to move to surround her. "What are you doing?"

"Uh uh..." The other Michelle said, wagging a finger. "That would be telling. Just relax and it will be over in a few moments."

"They are trying to take us both over!" The encased girl screamed. "Stop them! I... This isn't real..." She pleaded with nobody. "This can't be real!"

"She can't." The darker Michelle said as Infested forms closed in on the Tenno. "Unarmed and unarmored, she is all alone again."

"Am I?" Michelle said calming as pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The girl wasn't from her reality. A mind travelling across dimensional boundaries. It...wasn't common, but it had happened. "Am I really?" She looked at the girl who was struggling for all she was worth. "What is your name, girl?" She asked kindly.

"Michelle." The girl said in a hopeless voice. "I didn't mean it! I _swear_ I didn't mean it! I was hacking the game! I admit that, but... I didn't _mean_ it!"

"It wasn't you, girl." The Tenno replied. "Who tortured you?" The Infested around her froze as the Michelle in the pod gave out a whimper and the Tenno continued. "It's okay." She said gently. "It's okay, Michelle. I will help."

"She..." The girl in the pod was sobbing. "Dad loves her, but...she is evil... She gave me something and it made me fuzzy. I... She hurt me... I ... I couldn't... She made me look at pinwheels and... I couldn't..." The girl cried.

"It's all right, Michelle." The Tenno replied kindly. "It's over. You are going to let her go now." She said quietly to the dark Michelle who was staring from one to the other. "She doesn't belong here. She needs to go back."

"She is ours." The dark Michelle said with a laugh. "And so are you." Michelle felt something waft over her and she grimaced, fighting off the waves of pleasure. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"It's a lie." Michelle said calming her mind and body. "And so are you. You might as well show your real form."

"This _is_ my real form." The dark Michelle said with a snort. "Come, sister... Embrace us." A Leaper stepped towards Michelle only to pause as a Skana appeared in her hand. "Now, now..." The darker version said with a sigh. "Don't be like that."

"You do not own me. Us." Michelle said as she set herself. "We are _not_ your prey. We are _not_ your food. We are _not_ part of you. Go away. Now."

"Michelle..." The darker versions aid with a sigh. "You can't win." She froze as Michelle grinned. A death's head smile. "No... don't..." Fear sounded in her voice.

"Whether I can win or not is immaterial." Michelle said as she knelt in formal seiza and reversed the blade. "I wonder... If I die, what happens to you? Hmmm?" Seeing as how this was all in Michelle's mind... If her mind died...

The dark Michelle sighed and Michelle went stiff as the blade in her hand vanished.

"You are going to have to do better than _that_." The darker aspect of Michelle said with a smirk at her expression. 'You tried that six times while we changed you."

"Okay." Michelle said calmly, rising it her feet. "I will. Michelle? This _is_ real."

"It _can't_ be!" The girl screamed. "These things don't _happen_! It's a fraking _video game_!"

"You were playing a videogame." Michelle said quietly. "Something happened. Do you remember what?" The girl stared at her and stammered.

"Endless Defense mission... I was... I was..." She swallowed. "I was Saryn... We were...trying to... I..."

"Easy." Michelle felt as if she had been punched in the gut. Some Tenno occasionally 'saw' people in alternate dimensions. Some had even said that they saw people manipulating characters that looked like them on computer screens. "It's okay. You are not insane, Michelle."

"But I have to be!" The girl screamed. "Infested are not real!"

"In _your_ reality, they are not real, Michelle." The Tenno said gently. "In _ours_? They are all too real. Somehow you crossed the boundary. I don't know how we will get you back, but we will."

"You shouldn't make promises you cannot keep." The dark Michelle said mildly. "Or do you really think you can fight us all?"

"Actually..." Michelle said just as mildly. "I could." The dark Michelle stiffened. "You kept me unconscious. You injected things into me, into my brain. You mapped my brain over the four months that you had me, so you know it's structure. But you cannot control it. Or me. Which is why you have kept her around. You _can_ control her." She nodded to the girl in the pod. "You stunned me and made her take the warframe off, didn't you?"

"_I didn't mean to!_" The girl in the pod screamed as the walls rose a little around her. "_I swear I didn't mean to!_"

"I know, Michelle." The Tenno replied in a soft, kind tone. "It's okay, I forgive you." The girl in the pod froze.

"No..." The girl stiffened. "No... _No don't!_" She screamed even louder as Michelle summoned power and a warframe appeared around her. But ...not entire. Part of it were missing, vulnerable flesh showing underneath.

"My mind, my rules. One chance, Infested." Michelle snapped. "Get out of my head. Now. Or we all die here." She raised her hands to activate her most powerful ability. "If any of us die, we all die. We are all linked through the mind bridge you forged inside my head. Other Tenno are aiding me."

"You were happy..." The dark Michelle said uncertainly. "You belonged. You were content."

"It was a _lie_." Michelle snapped. "_You _are a lie. Choose, infested. Now." The dark Michelle looked at the Tenno sadly and then vanished.

"Wha-? No!" The girl pleased as Michelle stepped up to the pod and started ripping it open. "This isn't happening..." She said with barely controlled hysteria. "This can't be happening! This can't be real!"

"Easy girl..." Michelle said gently as she lifted the quivering human out of the pod. "Easy..."

She held the sobbing form close as the world around her warped and shifted. The dark and forbidding derelict vanished and a small room appeared. Furniture appeared around them and Michelle sat down carefully on a couch, still holding the sobbing girl. Her warframe vanished.

"Amelia...?" Michelle begged. "Help?"

"I thought I had seen everything." Amelia said, appearing nearby wearing a bodysuit instead of hazmat gear. "Easy..." She crooned to the girl sobbing in Michelle's arms. "It's okay, Michelle..." She said, her hand coming up with a scanner. "This will whirr, but nothing will hurt."

"This can't be real..." The girl sobbed as she hugged Michelle tight. "This...can't..." She stiffened as the scanner whirred, but relaxed a bit when it did not hurt her. "I... I am sorry..."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Michelle said, rubbing the girl's hair. "How could you know that you were breaching a dimensional boundary? _If_ you did. My bet is that the Infested did, somehow."

"It was...just..." The girl gasped as Michelle soothed her. "It was all so...wrong... Everything... I... I cut myself... but..."

"I know." Michelle said sadly. "I tried to die too while their prisoner. They wouldn't let me." She sighed deeply. "This isn't over."

"It isn't?" The girl begged, trying to burrowing into Michelle.

"No." Michelle replied. "They still have access to my mind." But then she grinned, a faint echo of the darker version of her. "But it works both ways."

"Careful." Amelia said cautiously.

"I know." Michelle said with a sigh. "They cut most of the links, but they can't cut them all or it kills us both. I am a threat, and I will _be_ a threat, but a containable one. We need to see how to help you, Michelle. Okay?"

"You are nice." The girl said as she relaxed a bit. Then she started to cry again. "Why couldn't _you_ have been my stepmom?" She demanded as she started to wail.

"Life is rarely fair. But... In your reality, Michelle..." The Tenno replied. The girl stared at her and the Tenno smiled. "The authorities have begun asking questions. I cannot guarantee she will be punished. But I will do my best."

"But... I..." The girl gulped. "I don't want to go back!" She snapped.

"I know." Michelle said sadly. "But you must. This reality is not safe for you." The girl started to cry again and the Tenno sighed. "Michelle, I need you to be strong. You _are_ strong or you would have been subsumed by the Infested long before now."

"They were playing with me. Like my stepmom..." The girl sobbed, hugging the Tenno tight. "They would hurt me, then let me heal, then hurt me again... I..."

"I know." Michelle's voice was super soft now. "I saw some of it. Those memories were blocked, but... I saw some of what they did to you." She was rocking the girl gently and the young human relaxed a bit. "I need you to stay here with Amelia while I go back to your body. I know how to do it now." She sad to Amelia's quizzical look. "Can you stay here? Talk to Amelia?" She asked as she gently moved the human off her lap.

"I am scared." The girl said, abject.

"I know." Michelle patted the girl's arm. "But it will be okay. Protecting others is what Tenno do."

"I..." The girl swallowed. "I understand. I will...stay."

"Good girl." Michelle said as she hugged the human lightly, then sat back.

* * *

"Nurse?" Michelle called as she came awake. "Is anyone there?"

"I am here, Michelle." A different nurse appeared in the doorway. "Is everything all right?"

"Sort of." Michelle said with a grimace. She was still strapped to the bed, and from the light levels it was night outside the hospital. "This is... um...going to sound crazy..." She paused and then chuckled. "Right place for it, huh?" The nurse stared at her and Michelle sighed. "Sorry, my sense of humor is...off at times. I need some information. I have been...out of the loop. What can I ask?"

"You can ask just about anything." The nurse replied evenly. "I may not have an answer or be able to answer." She looked carefully at Michelle. "You are...different."

"I think I figured out what happened." Michelle said slowly. "And before anyone says they don't believe it, I don't believe it. But it happened. There were odd brain waves on the EEG, right? Alpha and Theta waves that did not match any known human readings, yes?"

"How do you know that?" The nurse asked carefully. "No one has said anything..."

"Well..." Michelle said softly. "It's like this..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Huh?**

After Michelle had finished speaking, there was dead silence in the room. The nurse had listened to what Michelle knew was a totally improbable story. The nurse had taken notes and had promised to report the...story to the doctors. Michelle had known from the beginning that it was going to be an uphill battle. But the expression on the doctor's face when he had entered the next morning had been...daunting to say the least. But she had promised the girl and Michelle kept her promises.

"Look..." Michelle said after several minutes while the doc just stared at her. She was still strapped to the bed and this body was far too weak to break them. "I know it is unbelievable. I am _living_ it and I can't believe it. All I am asking is that you ask the authorities to check out the stepmother. _Nothing_ more."

"On the word of someone who believes she is a character in a video game." The doctor said flatly. Michelle winced.

"The girl is...a mess." Michelle said slowly. "She just went through a hell designed to drive her -and me- mad. Look..." She pleaded. "You cannot explain the odd Theta and Alpha waves, right?" The doc looked at her and she nodded. "You can't."

"It could have been an equipment malfunction or some kind of cerebral trauma." The doctor said evenly.

"It wasn't." Michelle said sharply. "If you want to do that whole thing again, feel free. I won't resist."

"Wouldn't do any good." The doctor said with a shrug. "The readings vanished halfway through the scan." Michelle stiffened and he nodded. "We have the initial records, but likely won't be able to duplicate them."

"Aw crap." Michelle said with a sigh. "Okay, so I am just crazy." She relaxed in her bonds. "And this body is underage, isn't she...?" Michelle sighed again.

"Legally yes. But... You filed for emancipated minor status when you turned sixteen." The doctor said slowly. "You don't know that?" He asked.

"I am not the original inhabitant, doc." Michelle said far more diplomatically than she normally would have. "She is...resting."

"As far as we can tell... You are." The doctor said with a frown. "As far as we can tell, you are the young lady who was admitted to this facility with self inflected wounds."

"Right..." Michelle said sourly. "So I... dipped my own foot in boiling water, Doc?" He had to grace to wince at that. "I know what a liquid burn feels like while it heals."

"I have seen people do that." The doctor said without a trace of apology.

"And... whatever is on the back?" Michelle asked softly, trying to stay calm. "I did that myself?"

"Self flagellation is..." The doc paused as Michelle scoffed. "It_ is_ a known thing."

"So... I cut myself... burned myself and whipped myself..." Michelle said softly. "Why?" She asked curiously.

"No idea." The doc said equably. "But my job is to find out and help you get past it." Michelle just shook her head. "Come on, dear. You can be honest with me."

"I am." Michelle said with calm she truly didn't feel. "I don't know if she was honest with me. She was upset -justifiably-." Her eyes lit on the doctor and then went around the room. "How much is the stepmother paying you?"

"What?" The doctor snapped shaken out of his calm. "What are you talking about?"

"Okay, not that theory... You know..." Michelle shook her head. "I just realized. I don't know anything at all about this place that I woke up in. I don't know if this is an actual hospital. I don't know if you are an actual doctor. So I think I am just going to shut up until you prove to me that you are who you say you are."

"I am not sure if you are joking or getting more delusional." The doctor said slowly.

"Mostly joking." Michelle replied with a sigh. "Then again, paranoia is a survival skill. This is not my reality. I know this. You do not accept it. So... I want to be gone as soon as I can. Let the girl come back, hopefully you can help her. She will need it." Michelle said sadly. She took a deep breath. "But..."

"But what?"The doctor asked softly.

"I need to know if she will be in danger again when she comes back." Michelle said flatly. "Because if she is, we won't let her come. She doesn't want to." The doctor stared at her and Michelle snarled. "You think _my_ reality is any safer than yours? Think again!" She snapped. "She isn't safe there. We need to send her back, but if she isn't safe _here_..." She shrugged as far as her restraints would go.

"The authorities are investigating." The doctor said softly. "We turned in all our evidence."

"Begging your pardon doc..." Michelle shook her head. "I don't know if I can trust you."

"Well..." Now the doc smiled, but it had little humor. "You are either a girl with a delusion or some kind of being possessing my patient."

"Well... yeah." Michelle admitted. 'Hard to trust me then too." She sighed. "Impasse?"

"We could mediate you into a stupor, but that doesn't help matters." The doctor said with a grimace.

"Okay." Michelle said, thinking quickly. "Then what we need here is a neutral party. Someone with no preconceptions." The doctor stared at her and Michelle shrugged again. "I need some legal advice too."

"I..." The doctor shook his head, baffled. "I don't understand."

"Look..." Michelle said with an air of exaggerated patience. "I am trying here. I am doing everything I can. I have legal questions and I don't think you can answer them."

"Such as?" The doctor asked slowly.

"_If_ the girl's stepmother _did_ hurt her, that is assault and battery, yes?" Michelle asked after a moment. The doctor nodded. "If the girl hurt _herself_ and made up a story about that, then that is bearing false witness or perjury, I am not sure which. We need to find out which is the truth. Preferably _before_ it gets to courts and such." She asked the doctor who nodded again. "So I need to talk to the authorities and a legal expert."

"And tell them...what?" The doctor asked dubiously.

"Well..." Michelle shook her head. "Since _you_ don't believe it, there is no way I can convince anyone else of the truth. So all I want to do is see what is being done. I want to know what the girl's legal options are. Is that allowed? For a patient who is mostly lucid to get legal advice?"

"I...guess..." The doctor said, his tone even more dubious.

"Look." Michelle said quietly. "I am not a flight risk. I am not a threat to anyone who doesn't try to hurt me, my family or people under my protection. The girl is under my protection and I will not surrender her until I am certain she is in no danger."

"I'll...see what I can do..."The doctor said as he rose and stepped from the room. Michelle sighed and focused herself.

* * *

"He didn't believe me." Michelle said with a sigh as she materialized in the small room with Amelia and... She paused as Amelia made a 'shushing' motion. The girl was asleep on the couch, her face a mass of tears even in sleep. "Poor kid..."

"I got her to sleep." Amelia said sadly. "She is strong, but... they had her for some time."

"Amelia..." Michelle beckoned the doctor close and whispered to her. "Is she telling the truth about being tortured before?" Amelia nodded and Michelle grimaced. "Part of me hoped she wasn't. But... The doc there doesn't believe me."

"She is not faking." Amelia had tears in her eyes as she turned to look at the girl. "But the reason she played computer games? To escape her life."

"Oh dear." Michelle sagged. "She... uh...left her family. I asked about talking to the authorities or a legal advisor. But I don't know if they will act on it. I mean, they think I am her with a persistent delusion."

"Can you blame them?" Amelia said with a frown. Michelle shook her head. "So...what now?"

"How long will she sleep?" Michelle asked, her hand gently smoothing the girl's hair.

"We can keep her asleep indefinitely, Michelle." Amelia said with a frown. "But without some kind of motive force driving it, her body will fail. Not soon, but it will."

"It's is also damaged." Michelle said with a sigh. "I am not sure how bad. But I get the impression she nearly died."

"We can keep her for a couple of days." Amelia said with a thoughtful look. "But her body will need a motive force."

"Okay." Michelle said heavily. "I will do it. If you can talk to her, try to figure out what happened and why."

"I will." Amelia said with a smile, reaching out to give Michelle a hug. "Come back every night so we can keep in touch."

"I will." Michelle said with a smile.

* * *

"You are awake." The nurse that Michelle had dealt with the most sounded anxious as the Tenno became aware.

"Ah..." Michelle shook herself a bit and froze. Her hands and feet were unfettered. The nurse sat nearby, looking at Michelle who looked back. "What is going on?"

"You asked to speak to a legal specialist." Susan replied with a gulp. "She is here, but... She can't come in here so we have to take you to her." Michelle's eyes bulged and Susan nodded. "Be polite, she is...not someone to anger."

"I thought no one believed me." Michelle said, flexing her limbs slowly and carefully. "And I... You trust me?" She asked softly.

"I am under orders to bring you as soon as you wake." Susan said softly, her face scared. "Please don't hurt me."

"Susan!" Michelle protested. "I won't. What do I do?" She asked, forcing herself to relax.

"I will send for a wheelchair and I will have to strap you into it." Susan said with a nod, looking a bit relieved. "Procedures are clear, but this is a special case. We haven't had an Adjucator come here before,. She can shut us down completely with a word."

"You people have been kind and gentle." Michelle said calmly. "All I need are some legal questions answered. Nothing more than that. I give you my word, as a Tenno, that I will not harm anyone who does not try to harm me first. I will not try to escape. I am not here to fight. I am here to help a hurt girl." Susan nodded and relaxed a bit. "Get the chair." Michelle said with a sigh.

"II wish we had time to clean you up a bit, but her orders are clear." Susan said with a nod as she...touched an odd crystal and it glowed blue for a moment. Her gaze went far away and then she focused on Michelle who stared at her. "Chair is coming."

"What is that?" Michelle asked, confused.

"Short range com system." Susan replied as the door of Michelle's room opened and an orderly pushed a chair in. "Can you get up?" She asked.

"I...?" Michelle sat up and then froze as the room spun. "Whoa... She was hurt worse than I thought. How long has she been in the bed?"

"Six days total." Susan said with a nod. "Okay, we will help you." She said as Michelle forced herself to relax again. This was what she wanted.

The orderly and Susan were professional. Michelle let them do the work, this body was far, far weaker than she had expected it to be. Various parts of it ached, but nothing really hurt. It was more a general fatigue that Michelle remembered from her own serious injuries during her time fighting. Michelle did not resist as they set her in the chair. The orderly started strapping her into it and Susan produced another crystal, this one brown.

"I need to put this on one of the shaved patches on your head." Susan said quietly as the orderly finished strapping Michelle's body in.

"I thought you shaved the whole head." Michelle said with a frown. "And what does that do?"

"No, we didn't." Susan said with sigh. "The EEG needed direct access and your hair was filthy. This..." She held up the small crystal, it was about the size of a pistol cartridge. "...is a vital signs monitor. You are still hurt."

"Tracker and stunner as well?" Michelle asked. The orderly froze and Susan stared at Michelle who smiled. "Go ahead. I am not going to fight. I gave you my word." She tilted her head forward so that Susan could reach the back of it easily. "I assume at the spinal junction?"

"You are...taking the very well." Susan said dubiously as she touched Michelle's head. The crystal was cold for a moment, against Michelle's skin, then warmed.

"What good would having a screaming fit do?" Michelle asked calmly. "Is there anything I should or should not do?"

"Don't insult her." Susan said with a gulp. "She is very busy, but has taken time to come here and speak to you, so please..."

"Susan!" Michelle protested. "I am not stupid. I am just not native to this reality." The orderly looked at Susan, a helpless look on his face and she shoo-ed him away with a gesture. "I will not get you in trouble if I can help it."

"You got the doc in trouble." Susan said with a frown. "You knew your session with him was being recorded, didn't you?"

"He was patronizing me." Michelle replied with a matching frown. "He wasn't going to _do_ anything."

"Yeah." Susan slumped a bit. "He isn't... Well... Doctors are not always focused on any particular patient. We have a dozen here at the moment, Simon being the worst. The doc is busy. He is not corrupt. I would know."

"I didn't really think that. But I don't _know_. All that I truly know is this: We are both on the same side." Michelle said gently. "We are _both_ trying to help this girl, Nurse Susan. I will apologize if I got him in trouble, but I need to help this girl."

"Okay." Susan said with a sigh as she undid the chair's brakes. "It's not far to the landing pad."

"Landing...pad...?" Michelle said with a frown.

"She flew in and doesn't have a lot of time." Susan pushed the chair from the room and Michelle stiffened as she saw...things that didn't fit.

A huge insect was working at a desk nearby. Antenna flipped to Susan who nodded, but remained silent. Other beings in patient gowns were visible, but... One was tall and thin. He had ears that came to points. One was stocky and short, with a beard that went all the way down to his feet! Both of them were engrossed in a chess match. A female human was kneeling nearby, her face serene as she tried to eat the pieces off a board game. Simon from the night before was sitting in a corner, a wary look on his face and a brace on his wrist. Michelle gave the human a vicious smile. He gulped and looked away.

"You broke his wrist." Susan said quietly as she pushed Michelle into a corridor that opened ahead of them. No one was visible to open the doors. Automatic? The place didn't look automated. The doors closed behind them. Excellent security. "Can't really say I blame you. I have wanted to do that myself. Even Zien'Ecien -she is the head nurse- is losing patience with him and Si'to'lon _define_ patient."

Michelle just shook her head. This... this wasn't Earth. She wasn't sure where she was. But she had a mission. A door head was marked "Exit' and 'Landing Area'. Susan pushed the chair that way. Like the others, it opened as they neared it and cool air wafted in. What met her eyes had Michelle stiffening.

It wasn't full dark yet, but the _two_ moons that shone provided a lot of light. The landing grid was well laid out, but...odd. It was about the size of a Corpus landing bay, with multiple areas designated for landing. In the distance, Michelle could see other buildings. Signs pointed the way to 'Hospital', 'Armory', 'Command Center' and 'Communications' in a few languages that Michelle knew and several that she didn't. But it was the form that sat in the closest landing spot, the one that Susan was wheeling her towards that had Michelle literally quailing.

It was huge, that form. It was composed of some kind of crystal. It was hard to tell the color in the dark, but it looked slightly blue-ish? As she watched, the entire form shifted a bit. It was alive. The crystal was alive.

"Nurse Susan?" The voice as clam and gentle, but held deep power and authority. "This is a our mystery?"

"Yes milady." Susan said, bowing.

"Don't start." The huge form said with a sigh. "Just...don't. I never should have let the Clan Lady talk me into this blasted job. I much prefer research to field work." Michelle felt her guts loosen as an eye the size of her _head_ gave a slow wink. "Well..." The head of the...creature turned to scrutinize Michelle. And was that a briefcase under the thing's claw? A huge briefcase! Claws... Wings... A long serpentine tail...

"Good evening." The _dragon_ said calmly. "My name is Halangrackin."


	6. Chapter 6

**Legal Questions**

She knew what the huge crystal form in form of her had to be. Michelle knew, intellectually, that this type of creature did not and had never existed on Earth. But there were legends galore about... um... She was being rude to a being with teeth as long as she was _tall_.

"Uh..." Michelle was aware that her mouth was hanging open and shut it with a click. "I... um..." She shook her head slowly. "I can honestly say that _this_ I did not expect."

"If you are not from our reality, and you say you are not..." The huge crystalline form said in a quiet -for a dragon- voice. "Then no wonder it is a shock. I have gone over all of the records available." It was female. Michelle could tell, but had no _clue_ how she knew that. "You are a visitor?" Michelle stared at the form. There was no disbelief in the voice, only curiosity. The dragon chuckled at Michelle's expression as the Tenno nodded. "Oh, don't worry, dear. It is nowhere _near_ the strangest thing we have seen around here." The dragon laughed. "We will corroborate it of course, but there is no need to be rude." A clawtip the size of Michelle's leg waved at her. "You _do_ owe the doctor an apology. He is not corrupt."

"I..." Michelle kicked herself mentally and forced words out. "I guess I do. I don't know this world. I don't know what to say or to who."

"Or who to trust." The dragon's voice was kind. "Fair enough. What exactly did you wish to ask?"

"What legal recourse does the girl Michelle have if she _was_ assaulted?" The Tenno named Michelle was sure this had to be a dream. Here she was, talking to a dragon about legal matters. She discretely pinched herself. She was awake. "Ah..." She paused. "What is the proper honorific? I have no wish to give offense."

"Wise. Let's keep it formal for now." The dragon said with a small nod. "My title is Adjucator. Your name is Michelle?" She asked.

"Yes, Adjucator." Michelle said with a nod. "Odd that my name and hers are the same."

"Actually, not so odd." The dragon replied, her tone absent. "Synchronicity seems to play a big part in events. Causality seems to prefer similarities and if we..." She broke off abruptly and laughed a little. "Sorry. I get sidetracked on occasion when I see something curious." She shook her impressive length, tiny shards of crystal flying off to sparkle in the moonlight. "I guess I am still a fledgling at heart."

"I hope you never lose that innocence, Ma'am." Michelle said when the dragon stopped speaking. The huge crystal form stared at her, Susan as well. "If you do, you will never get it back." Bottomless sadness sounded in her voice.

"Oh..." The dragon seemed to freeze. "Oh no..." Her voice turned super soft now. "No, not you too." Michelle stared at her and the dragon sighed sadly. "How long has your war gone on?" Michelle openly gaped and the dragon's voice was sad. "I knew another soldier who...had to do awful things to win his wars. It... tore him apart. Good soldier, but...hollow. Scary hollow. A good man who will remember his deeds until the day he dies. They had to be done, but..." She shrugged.

"I know the feeling." Michelle said softly, undone by the compassion in the other's voice. "But I don't know how long it's been. My memory is a mess. All of us who survived lost parts of who and what we were."

"That is either a sadness or a kindness, depending on the situation." Halangrakin said with sigh. "And _that_ is neither here nor there. Rest easy, Michelle. The girl's wounds were not self inflicted."

"I..." Michelle shook her head. "The doctor seemed to think they were."

"He was covering his rear end. The doctor was worried about possible legal action on the part of the girl's family." Halangrackin replied calmly. "As well he should. Despite the girl's emancipation, she is still a member of that family." She moved a little and a claw tapped her briefcase, which opened into an oddly shaped desk. One sized for claws. Papers appeared from a drawer and spread themselves out without the dragon touching a thing. "Good news is that the family is not going to be able to afford a champion, so it will not come to trial by combat no matter _how_ this turns out." Michele goggled and the dragon looked at her. "You don't have trial by combat on your world?"

"Not...really..." Michelle said slowly. "We have challenges to review verdicts that some feel may be in error, but they are usually not combat. If they are, it's almost always to first blood."

"I see. Ours are to first blood too. Cuts down on frivolous lawsuits if the plaintiff has to defend himself on the field against a champion." Halangrackin said with a nod. "Anyway... The girl's family is under investigation. What can you tell me?"

"Michelle said that her stepmother gave her something that made her fuzzy. Then put some kind of pinwheels in front of her eyes." The Tenno paused as the dragon stiffened. "That's not good, is it?"

"No." The dragon replied coldly. "The stepmother is a licensed hypnotherapist with a decent sized practice. There haven't been any complaints from her clientele. Usually there would be." The dragon mused.

"Well..." Michelle spoke into the silence that fell. "Then she is a victim. But...why?" She asked curiously. "Why hurt her stepdaughter and why cover it up?"

"I don't know." Halangrackin stared at the papers on her desk for a moment and then sighed. "We will find out." The crystal wyrm promised. "Rest assured this is _not_ something that the Clan Lady is going to... What is the human phrase? 'Sweep under the rug'?" Michelle nodded and Halangrackin smiled as only a dragon could. "Tina is a good leader, kind and patient. But there are some things she will _not_ stand for. Torture is one of them. Cross the Clan Lady at your _peril_. She comes by her temper honestly. And if the _Darkstorms_ get involved..." The dragon actually shuddered.

"Darkstorms?" Michelle asked quietly.

"Guardians of the planet." The dragon replied."Great in a fight. Out of it? They tend to break things. Furniture, walls, armies, cities..." Michelle nodded soberly. "You understand." The dragon said with a matching nod.

"Tenno are weapons." Michelle said with a sigh. "It is all we are." Both the dragon and the nurse who had remained silent through the discussion looked at her and Michelle shrugged. "It's needed, but... We do understand that what we do is bad. Those who don't. Or who forget...are stopped. One way or another."

"I see." Halangrackin said with a soft sound of sadness."Did you have other questions?"

"What is the girl's legal status?" Michelle asked after a moment's thought. "And how is this being paid for?" She nodded to the building she had left.

"Money first. Health care is a public service." Halangrackin said with a nod. "Paid for by taxes and coordinated by the Assembly. As for the girl's legal status? Is she...coherent?"

"Barely."Michelle replied sadly. "I have no idea how lucid she will be." The dragon blew out a warm breath and Michelle nodded. "Our medical specialist recommends she sleep as much as she can to heal." Halangrackin looked at her and then at the nurse.

"Nurse Susan?" The dragon asked. "Your opinion?"

"The girl's body needs time to heal, Adjucator." Susan said quietly. "The hospital had her in a cocoon."

"And she tore her way out." Halangrackin said quietly. 'Which shouldn't have been possible."

"If she did manage to link to Infested somehow, then small wonder she was incoherent and dangerous." Michelle said with a frown. "I don't know which side the contact came from. I have been...out of the loop myself."

"'Out of the loop'?" The dragon queried. "What do you mean?"

"I was captured by my enemies, Adjucator." Michelle admitted, her voice small. "They were trying to do things to my mind." Both the dragon and the nurse froze at that and Michelle nodded. "I don't know if they succeeded, but the girl's predicament takes precedence for now. At the moment, I am lucid and can help her." The dragon and the nurse shared a look and Michelle sighed. "Yes?" She asked carefully.

"How long were you a prisoner?" Halangrackin asked after a moment.

"My kin tell me I was missing for four months." Michelle admitted. "They are working on find out what was done to me and how. When they know that, they can undo it. It won't be easy, but they can." She paused. "Wait... You said the girl was here for six days?" She asked Susan.

"The girl was comatose in the hospital for a month. They kept her in a form of stasis." Halangrackin replied for the nurse. "They thought she was a vegetable, but since she had no legal next of kin, it was being wrangled in legal circles. Then she woke up and... Well..." Halangrackin managed to look sheepish, somehow.

"She went berserk." Michelle said quietly. Not a question. "She was under the control of the Infested. Somehow. But..." She paused. "The numbers do not add up."

"Hopping realities apparently plays merry heck on timekeeping." Halangrackin waved that away with a claw. "What are Infested?"

"Ah..." Michelle groaned. "Infested are living weapons created using a nasty techno-organic virus. During the war, they were used against the enemies of an Empire that subsequently fell. The thing is, some of them act mindless and others do not. The trap for me was a sophisticated plan of some kind, some means of using me for some end that I cannot fathom at the moment." She paused. "Various people said that she was playing a video game?" She asked, curious.

"Don't ask." Halangrackin said seriously. "Alternate realities are mind bending enough without weirdness like this put in the mix."

"It may be important, Adjucator." Michelle pressed carefully. "I used a Saryn warframe. The girl said she was playing a Saryn warframe when whatever happened, happened."

"That is not the issue at the moment." Halangrackin replied calmly. "The girl?" She pressed. "What are the chances of these...'Infested' taking control of her?"

"I don't know, Adjucator." Michelle admitted.

"Then..." Halangrackin scrutinized the wheelchair. "That body may very well be a threat." Michelle stiffened but then nodded, manifestly against her will.

"I don't want it to be." Michelle said softly. "But... probably." She said sadly.

"But..." Halangrackin's snout formed a frown. "Killing her or imprisoning her without cause is wrong as well in the eyes of the law." Michelle raised an eyebrow. The dragon wasn't concerned with the loss of the girl's life. Just the letter of the law. Good to know. The dragon nodded slightly. "I am a judge, not a priest." She said dryly.

"Point." Michelle agreed. "So... What _can_ be done?"

"There are ways to...sequester her while her body heals." Halangrackin said with a nod. "Ways to keep her safe a secure. But..." She waved a claw idly. "They also will harm her mind if she is stuck in one place, unable to move for a month or two." Michelle tilted her head quizzically and the dragon puffed smoke from her nostrils. Susan looked ashen and the dragon addressed the nurse. "Tell me truly, nurse. Could you tend a still form and keep her safe and secure for a month? I know of your...problem patient." She said diplomatically.

"I..." Susan shook her head. "No, Adjucator. Our staff is dedicated, but..." She shrugged helplessly. "No."

"They have been kind and fair." Michelle protested softly when the huge crystalline form looked at her. "This is not a normal situation." That got a chuckle from both the dragon and the nurse.

"I'll say." Halangrackin said with a sigh. "Ok. Then we -The Clan Lady and I- take responsibility for the health and welfare of the young human female called Michelle." Susan bowed her head. "You may go, nurse Susan. Send Doctor Orlis out." The nurse bowed formally and stepped quickly back to the door which opened for her. "You will apologize." The dragon said quietly, but with command. "Any hint of corruption in a public position results in a mind scan being performed. They are not pleasant."

"Of course." Michelle said with a gulp. "I didn't know what to do."

"Ah..." Halangrackin sighed deeply. "Young races are always impulsive. Tell me..." The dragon asked with a sharp look. "In your body, your _real_ body, are you mortal?" Michelle shook her head and the dragon made a harrumphing noise. "Then you truly need to learn patience. We were moving on this, just... not fast."

"I apologize to you for any discourtesy I may have done to you or your Clan Lady." Michelle said formally. "I meant no offense. I could only see a young life in jeopardy."

"When lives are in danger..." The dragon replied easily. "It is easy to get waylaid. It is hard to see everything when a youngling is hurting. Even I have been known to get sidetracked in those situations." The door opened again and a familiar form stepped out, the male doctor looked a bit pale, but his steps were firm as he walked to bow to the dragon. "Ah, Doctor. You heard?" He nodded, silent. The dragon looked at Michelle who nodded as well.

"For my words, I apologize." Michelle said softly. "I had no right to say what I did. I was confused and did not know who to trust, but I had no call to insult your integrity or to get you in trouble. I apologize."

"Apology accepted." The doctor replied softly. "If you will take mine. I did not think this was real."

"Technically it is not, since I am not in my own reality, none of this is real to me." Michelle said with a smile. The doctor smiled a bit at that. "Then again..." She said with a grin. "What _is_ real?"

"Oh no..." The dragon said, holding up a claw. "Do _not_ start debating what is real and what is not. We will be here all night. I have a _lot_ more work to do tonight and I do not need the headaches. She is our responsibility, doctor." The doctor bowed again.

"Thank you for your concern and care." Michelle said quietly. "I apologize again for being a pain."

"You were weird, not a pain." The doctor said with a sigh. "_Simon_ is a pain." The dragon looked at him and the doctor shook his head. "No change, Adjucator."

"Notify us if anything does." The dragon's words were both command and dismissal. The doctor bowed again and left. The dragon nodded to Michelle who flinched. "It won't hurt." She promised. "It's a form of stasis. A prison of sorts, but a restful one. I will set it to heal the girl's body." A blue crystal appeared in the dragon's claw. Just appeared. No cheap theatrics, no poof or light show. Just there.

"She is linked to me, and I am a threat to my kin." Michelle said softly. "Can you check to make sure is it...her in there?"

"I can." The dragon replied. "Anything else?"

"Thank you for being fair." Michelle said, relaxing as something gripped her gently. The bonds holding her to the wheelchair unsnapped on their own and she was lifted into the air by invisible hands. Somehow she knew she was perfectly safe. "I would wish we could meet again. There is so much I would like to ask. But it is not to be, is it?"

"No." Halangrackin said gently. "We will monitor the girl's mind."

"If she does...fall apart..." Michelle said softly. "Make it quick and painless, please?" Far kinder to end the girl's suffering in such a case. Far, far kinder.

"I will." Halangrackin promised. "I swear on my name and honor that the girl will not suffer any more than she has if I can prevent it." Then her voice turned stern. "And I _will_ get to the bottom of what happened and why. You have my word on _that_ as well."

"I accept your word, Adjucator Halangrackin." Michelle managed to get the odd name out without fumbling. "What do I do?"

"Relax." The dragon held up the crystal and blue light saturated Michelle...

* * *

"Michelle?" Amelia's worried voice came from nearby and Michelle opened her eyes to see the doc standing nearby. "You okay?" Michelle found herself curled up on the floor of the small room, the girl still asleep on the couch.

"I am...well..." Michelle paused and then chuckled bit sadly. "I am about as fine as I can be under the circumstances. She still asleep?"

"We...um..." Amelia looked worried. "We have some...complications." Michelle looked at her and Amelia sighed. "The Elders are worried."

"What do they want?" Michelle asked, dreading the answer.

"They want you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Ethics**

"I don't like this." Amelia said for the fourth time as she finalized the connections. Michelle did not move, not that she could move much in the bulky suit that she wore. Amelia wore a full hazmat suit and the MOA that had greeted Michelle on her first waking was the only other sentient present. But others were listening. "I don't like this one bit, Sensei."

"Amelia." The voice of the leader of this clan of Tenno was flat. "You know they have better gear. They have more personnel trained for such things."

"But..." Amelia shook her head. "All done, Michelle. You okay?" She asked kindly.

"I don't think 'okay' will be showing up any time soon, Amelia." Michelle said with a small laugh, but it was strained and no one blamed her.

When she had woken, still in the same room, Karl Sensei had told her that she was being transported to a major Tenno Colony for 'evaluation'. He had sounded somewhat apologetic, but Michelle hadn't been surprised. No matter what, she was a threat. She was connected somehow to the Infested. She couldn't feel them in her mind, but did not kid herself that she was free of them. Until she could be freed of whatever the Infested had done to her, she was in danger and _a_ danger to everyone around her.

Michelle had complied with every instruction. She assumed that the MOA was armed. She knew that other weapons had to be tracking her. And... Well... Amelia was nice. The doctor hadn't left the hazmat suit except when entering Michelle's mind, which to Michelle had been an awful risk in and of itself. But the mental specialist promised that she had taken every possible safeguard. The risk wasn't eliminated, but it _was_ minimized.

It was very uncomfortable. The suit that Michelle had clambered into restricted her movement as well as taking care of basic bodily needs. It wasn't intended for comfort. It was a restraint. Michelle wouldn't be able to fight. Heck, she would barely be able to _move_ at all. She was being taken to the colony as cargo.

"Say the word, Michelle." Amelia said quietly. "Say the word and the Elders can kiss my fanny. They cannot do anything there I can't."

"Amelia." Michelle said with fond exasperation. "It's okay. We need to know what happened to me. We need to know why. We need to sever the link in my head to the Infested. The girl is asleep inside my mind and I can send her back to her body with a thought. The people in her reality will take care of her. Calm down. It's okay." She hissed bit as something pinched, but did not move. "It will be okay."

"I hope so." Amelia said sadly. "You are good company. I hope you find healing. If you need help, call."

"Thank you, Amelia." Michelle said softly. "Now you better finish up."

"This is wrong." Amelia said with a snarl as she stepped back as a heavy duty loader moved up, a cargo pod open. The MOA moved to the bedside, appendages extending. "You know what they are going to do to you."

"Yes I do." Michelle said, closing her eyes as Cecelia slid two large appendages underneath her, lifting her easily. A short movement and she was lying on a hard surface. She opened her eyes and yes, she was sin the pod. "Fare thee well Amelia, Cecelia, Karl and Tenno of Karl's clan. Thank you for your care and hospitality. I hope to repay it someday."

"You will." Cecelia's voice was soft and worried, but the MOA's arms did not hesitate, easing the restrained Tenno into a more comfortable position in the pod. Odd that Michelle was starting to like a MOA, but Cecelia was a good...person. For a hybrid organic/technological being she was a hoot.

The Tenno relaxed as best she could as the lid of the pod came down. It felt...a lot like the cryo pod that she had spent so any centuries slumbering in. They were not going to...

* * *

"You don't need to do this." The voice was Michelle's but not. Michelle opened her eyes and was unsurprised to find herself elsewhere. A virtual simulation of some kind, she was lying on a comfortable bed, clad in comfortable clothes. The bed was the only furniture in the room. The dark version of her that she had seen before stood against a wall. "We are not enemies." The other her pleaded.

"Get out of my head." Michelle said evenly. "Now."

"Please..." The other her begged. "We can't. What was done cannot be undone. You need to understand..."

"I understand you took me, changed me and are going to try to use me to hurt my kin." Michelle said flatly. "I won't stand for that."

"It's not like that." The other her said, her face falling. "Yes, we took you. Yes we changed you. But we want to talk, not fight." Michelle shook her head. "Don't... Don't make us hurt you. We don't want to."

"You are lying." Michelle said flatly.

"We have never lied to you." The darker version of Michelle said sadly. "Ever. They will tear your body apart. You know this."

"Then I will be free of you." Michelle said, closing her eyes.

"You will be _dead_!" The other her said sharply. "Please, sister... Let us help you."

"You are no kin of mine." Michelle said with a sigh. "Go away. I can still immolate myself and the girl you tortured."

"We did not torture her." The other Michelle said slowly. "She was hurting. In pain. We did not know where she came from or why. We found her and used her, yes. We used her to try to bridge into your mind. To distract you so we could talk. We already had a connection, but you fought so hard. We couldn't make contact. We needed to talk to you. No more."

"Bull." Michelle said softly. "Show your true face."

"This is my true face." The other her said just as softly. "I am part of you, sister."

"You are no kin of mine!" Michelle snapped, focusing herself, then she gasped as something happened. A wave of intense cold flowed through her. "I... No... They said I wouldn't be put in cryo..."

"They lied." The other her said sadly. "I can help, sister, please! Let me help!" She begged as Michelle started to fall into the nothingness of cryo-sleep again.

"_No!_" Michelle screamed as the darkness reached out to take hold of her. The other her jumped, reaching for here, hand outstretched and face terrified, but it was too late. The cold had taken Michelle and...

* * *

Michelle was cold. So cold. She was so cold she couldn't even shiver. But then... She warmed a bit. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. But she could hear.

"What have you done? You motherless lying scumsucking bastards!" The female voice was irate. "Of all the lousy, stupid, good for nothing excuses for wanna be _quacks_. _None_ of your people are even close to actual medical professionals... Michelle...?" The voice turned scared. "Michelle, can you hear me?" Michelle couldn't even grunt, but the voice moderated. "Ah, she can, but cannot verbalize yet. You are _so_ lucky you didn't kill her with that. Putting her in cryo in a restraint suit? It's not a _warframe_, you fool!"

"Calm down, doctor." A cold voice sounded from nearby. Male and authoritative, he was obviously in charge.

"My rank, Elder Grina, is _Healer_." The female voice snapped with disdain. "Not that any of _your_ butchers would know anything at _all_ about healing!"

"Calm down, Iriana."The male voice snapped. "We have the subject secured and that is all that matters." We can start the examinations."

"You asked for my help..." The voice called Iriana said sharply. "Well, I am giving it. You lied to Karl. You lied to his people. You hurt this Tenno. I can't tell how badly yet, but you _did_."

"If you don't take the samples we need, I will find someone who will." The voice of the one called Grina said offhandedly. "You are not indispensible healer despite your current affiliations." He chucked evilly. "And you are not in any position to make demands." The sound of a slap was loud. "You... You dare..."

"Didn't the last time one of your stooges hurt Sara teach you _anything_, Elder Grina?" Iriana said coldly. "The Warriors will not stand for it. Go right ahead, hurt Sara or Mishka _or_ Serene, you moron. You truly _do_ want a civil war, don't you?" She scoffed.

"I am trying to protect my people, healer." The other said coldly. "You of all people should understand that."

"What I understand is that you have lied at every turn." Iriana replied with equal warmth. "You lied when you asked me to come here. You lied to the other medical personnel on the colony. You lied to Karl's people. They never would have sent this hurt sister here if they knew _you_ were involved. Not after what you tried last time."

"Those interfering busybodies will destroy us all." Grina snapped. "Do it. Now. Or I will."

"And you will kill her with your clumsiness." Iriana said quietly. "You leave me little choice, you Machiavellian scum. But understand _this_. When I get back, I _will_ report you. I will report this. And if my memory is tampered with, they will catch it quickly. They have upgraded their security since Nicholas' little visit."

"Do not speak that name." The one called Grina said in a dangerous voice.

"Why not?" Iriana replied. "You are following the exact same path he did. The end always justifies the means? Yes?" She demanded.

"It _does_." Grina replied calming. "You have an hour." A door hissed and Iriana sighed.

"Moron didn't learn anything from what happened with Serene." Michelle felt a hand on her forehead. "You are warming. Easy..." She said as Michelle gasped.

"Don't... Don't touch..." Michelle managed to grate out the words through a throat that felt like knives.

"It's okay, Michelle." Iriana said sadly. "I am protected. The Infested cannot access my mind or infect me. It's okay." She said gently and Michelle relaxed a little.

"Healer Iriana?" Michelle asked slowly when she felt strong enough to talk. "I... I thought you were...?" She clamped down on that. The last thing she wanted to do was betray any more secrets to the Infested.

"It's okay, Michelle." Iriana repeated kindly. "This room is shielded. Nothing in or out. At least the moron did _that_ right."

"What is going on?" Michelle asked, her body slow in reacting.

"Stupidity. They sent you here for evaluation." Iriana said sadly. "But Grina subverted the transport. They put you in cryo. It might have killed you and he doesn't _care_." Outrage sounded clearly in her tone.

"Can't see." Michelle swallowed hard.

"Your eyes are covered, Michelle." Iriana said gently, the warm touch back on Michelle's forehead. "And your optic nerves were deactivated to keep any Infested watching from knowing where you were."

"So the reason I can hear..." Michelle said with a gulp.

"They were going to access your brain matter through an ear canal." Iriana's voice held injured professional pride now. "Idiots. Would have caused irreparable harm to your inner ears. Kind of delicate, those membranes."

"What...?" Michelle hated the whining tone that entered her voice, but it was so hard to keep it out. "What will happen now?"

"He wants samples of your brain matter to study." Iriana said with a scowl in her voice. "As far as he is concerned, he will take the whole brain out -kill you- and use it as he sees fit, but _I_ won't stand for that. That is what the _Corpus_ does, not Tenno."

"Maybe you should." Michelle replied, abject. "I am not...sane..."

"You are _hurt!_" Iriana snapped. "You were _abused_ and _modified_ against your will. You are not rational at the moment and no one _sane_ blames you. I don't think even _Grina_ blames you. He doesn't have enough emotion to assign blame that way. He sees you as a way to gain back some of the support he lost when he was stupid before. Nothing more. _I_ see a hurt sister who needs help."

"Just...do what you have to do." Michelle said, slowly calming. "I want this...over. I want this ended. One way or another."

"I am not going to kill you, Michelle." Iriana said sadly. "I know better than to tick Karl off and what Grina just did _will_ tick that Tenno off. I can do it gently and without long term harm. But I need to ask your permission."

"M... My permission?" Michelle stammered. "Why?"

"Because if I do it without your permission, I am no better than Grina and his goons." Iriana was angry, but the warm touch was back, soothing Michelle's fear. "I am not like him. I am not like his stooges. I became a medical technician to _help_ people, not _rule_ them."

"What will you do?" Michelle asked, relaxing as best she could.

"I will put you to sleep, anesthesia not cryo this time." Iriana replied evenly. "Then I will carefully drill five holes in your skull and sample your brain matter from five places. Pretty much the same thing that idiot Vos did to Sara. You will have pain and nausea when you wake, but you _will_ wake with no impairment."

"Do I have to? Wake that is?"Michelle asked, feeling wetness on her cheeks. "This is a walking nightmare."

"I won't kill you, Michelle." Iriana said, the touch smoothing Michelle's forehead and wiping the tears away. "There, there, sister, don't cry. It's okay." She crooned.

"I..." Michelle shook herself, what she could. Much of her body wasn't reacting as it should. "I won't put you or your family in danger, Healer Iriana. Do what you have to do."

"You are so much better than Grina, girl." Iriana said sadly. "I am getting a mask." A rattle of gear sounded nearby and then something settled over Michelle's nose and mouth. "It's the same anesthesia as in the warframes. A deep breath and you are out." A hiss sounded and pressure built over Michelle's nose and mouth.

Michelle took a deep breath and ...

* * *

"Oh, sister..." A gentle voice had Michelle jerking. She was lying on the bed again, and her darker aspect was lying beside her. The other her's arms were over her and Michelle couldn't move. "It's okay." The darker aspect said quietly. "It's okay. Easy..." She pleaded. "I thought they had killed you or were going to. Thank _god_ for Iriana..."

"You..." Michelle slurred the words out. "You can see... No..."

"No." The darker aspect of Michelle said sadly. "I can hear. Right now it's just you and me while you are in that shielded room. We need to talk, you and I. Talk, not fight or throw accusations about. _Talk_." She repeated, releasing Michelle and rolling away to get up and walk as far from Michelle as she could, giving the Tenno space.

"Don't talk to Infested." Michelle said with a snap.

"Michelle." The other her said in a whisper soft voice. "You _are_ Infested. You are one of us now. Nothing the Tenno _do_ can change that. They can kill you, or hurt you. But they cannot change you back to the way you were before. They _can't_."

"Why?" Michelle managed to say. "Why do this?" The other her sighed. "I deserve an answer."

"Yes, you do." The other Michelle agreed quietly. "We did it to save your life."

"You...what?" Michelle snapped, aware of her body's weakness. She couldn't move, couldn't fight. Couldn't do anything.

"You came to us to _die_, Michelle." The other her said quietly. "We refused to do it." Michelle stared at the other her and the darker aspect of Michelle shook her head. "I am not saying it wasn't pragmatism as well. We never had a Tenno just _remove_ her warframe like that. We had no way to understand what was happening. The lesser ones hurt you before we could stop them, we wanted to understand. We wanted to know."

"I... I thought the girl took off my warframe..." Michelle said, stunned.

"No." The other her replied. "You had accomplished your mission. You were down. You had run out of ammunition and power. You got up and drew your swords, but then dropped them. Then your warframe deactivated and you stepped out of it. The lesser ones attacked of course, they don't know any better. And you were so badly hurt. You didn't resist."

"I... I was..." Michelle stammered again.

"You were suicidal." The other her replied. "We didn't understand and we needed to. We picked you up, carried you into our midst to try and put you back together and tried to understand. You fought. It's what you _do_." The other her said with a kind smile. "Even unconscious, you fought."

"So...how much of that final mission was real?" Michelle asked slowly. "How much was delusion?"

"None of it was real."


	8. Chapter 8

**Comfort**

"What do you mean, it wasn't real?" Michelle asked, sitting up as best she could. "I imagined the whole thing?" She demanded.

"Not all of it." The other Michelle who stood against the w all said quietly. "Your mission to get the datamasses was real. But..." She bit her lip.

"But what?" Michelle asked, dazed.

"You got them, and then... for no reason we can determine, you went in further.." The other said sadly. "You were seen in moments and overwhelmed. It was a primary hive. You didn't have a chance solo. Michelle. Your ship was discovered in moments and self destructed when lesser ones tried to board it. You got to the airlock and your ship was gone. You went down fighting, but you went down _hard_. Then you got up and...tried to die."

"But..." Michelle swallowed heavily. "I recovered the datamasses. I was on my way out when Phorid..."

"Phorid was never _there_, Michelle." The other said quietly. "That was a hallucination caused by Ancient toxin." Michelle was shaking her head in horror, but the other her just sighed. "And before you ask, the hostage wasn't real _either_. We could see _parts_ of your mind while we...tried to get in. The most recent parts. The hallucinations, the fever dreams. But we couldn't talk to you. We couldn't understand why you did what you did. Why you...tried to die." The other Michelle said sadly. "Tenno fighting, we understand. Tenno fleeing and setting ambushes we understand. But a Tenno _dropping_ her weapons, _exiting_ her warframe and _standing_ there while Chargers took her to the ground? We _did not_ understand. We needed to understand." The darker Michelle said softly. "We still don't."

"That makes two of us." Michelle said faintly. "I... I don't believe this. I can't."

"I know." The other her said sadly. "Nothing I say or do will make you believe me, so I will leave you alone. I...hope you feel better." The darker aspect of Michelle faded, leaving the Tenno to stare after her, stunned. She was...

* * *

Pain slammed into Michelle. It seemed to all come from her head. She bit back a scream through sheer force of will. But then the nausea came.

"Easy, Michelle." Iriana's soft voice came from the darkness that surrounded Michelle. "Easy..."A hand found Michelle's and she gripped it tight. "I know it hurts."

"I am going to be sick." Michelle said in a gagging voice.

"If you need to do it, I am prepared." Iriana said gently, a hand soothing Michelle's hot forehead. "It should pass quickly while your body acclimates. Easy, easy..." She crooned, then cursed as Michelle gasped again and heaved. "Let it come!" The healer commanded when Michelle tried to stop it.

A few fairly disgusting minutes later, Michelle sank back to the bed, her face hot in embarrassment. Tenno did not...vomit. She lay quiet while a soft thing wiped her face and a straw found her mouth. At the doctor's command, she swished the water around and spit it out.

"Why am I so weak?" Michelle said softly when she was sure Iriana was done. "I haven't...lost control of my stomach in...years..." She swallowed hard, the memory of bile strong in her taste buds.

"You are hurt and sick." Iriana said softly. "The good news is that Grina has all the samples he wanted. If he wants more, he can kiss my butt. You are not strong enough to survive more being taken anytime soon." She chuckled a bit sourly as the sound of an explosion was heard in the distance. "And unless I miss my guess, he doesn't have time."

"Wha-?" Michelle managed to croak.

"I...um...didn't trust Grina." Iriana said with a small laugh. "I left a time release message for some friends if I didn't get back to it quickly. They would not react well to my disappearing. Better?"She asked as Michelle slowly relaxed.

"A bit, yes." Michelle agreed, then paused. She could feel herself. It felt...wrong, but right. "I... The virus... I..." She swallowed.

"You are beginning to change." Iriana said heavily. "And I will follow suit soon." Michelle froze at the grief in Iriana's voice. "I underestimated Grina."

"What did he do?" Michelle asked, horrified.

"He injected me with one of the samples I took from you." Iriana said calmly. "I am Infested now too. But...I am not a Warrior. I won't survive this."

"No!" Michelle gasped. "No! Iriana! No!" She started to cry.

"If they get her in time, they can..." Iriana started to say, then paused as Michelle raised a hand. "Easy, you are still weak." Two warm hands, ungloved, took hers.

_Sister!_ Michelle screamed in her head. _He did it to Iriana!_

_What?_ The darker aspect of Michelle snapped. _No! He couldn't! That is..._

_Evil. _Michelle replied slowly. _He put part of me in her. Can I get it out?_

_You...can... _The other part of her replied slowly. _It will accelerate your change. Michelle..._

_Tenno do what has to be done. Thank you...sister. _Michelle replied as she shifted her grip on Iriana. "Where did he inject it?" She asked Iriana aloud.

"My arm." Iriana replied."Who were you just talking to? I can... almost..." She gasped as Michelle's free hand came up to touch her arm, in a place that felt...different. "Michelle? What are you doing?"

"You have two kids and an adopted sister who need you." Michelle said softly. "I have no one left. I am alone, you are not." She focused on her hand. Focusing on the feeling that were coming from the other woman's flesh. Commanding her flesh to obey.

"Ow!" Iriana tried to recoil, but Michelle closed her grip. The med tech wasn't going to break free no matter how weak the Warrior was. "Michelle, that hurts! Let go!"

"Not... until...this is done..." Michelle gasped as her arm started to quiver. Not in fatigue, but in anticipation. A feeling of...something pulled into her palm and she gasped as she released Iriana and collapsed back to the bed. No more of the awful feelings were coming from the tech. And suddenly, her arm felt...wrong. It flopped, boneless onto the bed beside her. It twitched as she tried to move it and...slithered. Not an arm anymore.

"Michelle?" Iriana said, terror coming through clearly despite Michelle's still not functioning eyes. "What have you done?"

"Saved your life." Michelle said, retreating from the med tech. "I pulled the bits of me back into me."

"You... Your arm..." A touch had Michelle recoiling. Iriana snarled at her. "What did you do?" She demanded.

"Saved your life." Michelle said repeated as the sounds of fighting came from nearby. "Stay away, Iriana. Tell them to burn my corpse."

"No!" Iriana was crying. "Michelle, don't! We can help you!"

"My arm is a tentacle now, Iriana." Michelle said, feeling the alien flesh with her sole remaining hand. "I... I am changing. Stay away. Please." She begged. "I can't do that again."

"Michelle..." Iriana was crying...

* * *

"I..." The darker aspect of Michelle was crying as well as Michelle woke on the bed, her sister kneeling on it beside her. "I can't believe he... He just..."

"Clinical experiment." Michelle said calmly. "To see the change happen. I am stronger, I can resist it. Iriana wouldn't have been able to."

"That was...So selfless..." The other Michelle said slowly. "I... I didn't..." She shook her head ."You just...threw away the last little bits of your humanity... To save her life."

"I am dead already." Michele replied calmly. "She isn't."

"Michelle?" The other her asked slowly. "Why? Why are you dead?" Michelle curled up on herself and the other her shook her head, laying a slow hand on her quivering arm. "No. You do not get to withdraw. You do not get to do..._that_...and just shut down. Why, Michelle?" The other her demanded, giving the Tenno a shake. Not a gentle one either. "_Why_ are you dead?"

"Everyone is dead." Michelle said with a whimper. The other Michelle froze and Michelle felt words start to fall out. "Sina, Coriana, Nisa, Oria... All dead..."

"Your... your sisters?" The other her asked weakly. "What? What happened?"

"All dead." Michelle said, curling tighter on herself. "Sina fell to Grineer on one of their Formorians. Coriana was taken by Corpus and...dissected. Nisa was fighting your kind... She was torn into pieces." The other Michelle was shaking in horror and Michelle sighed. "Oria... They... They said it was an accident. But the Stalker got her. Cut her head off. I saw through her eyes her head landing beside her legs."

"All... of your sisters..." The Infested Michelle said in horror. "_All_ of your siblings..."

"Quintuplets." Michelle said, her voice tiny. "We... we shared... I..."

"You were _linked_ to each as they _died_. Oh my _god_..." The other Michelle said in horror, and then warm arms were holding Michelle as she cried. "You wanted to join your sisters."

"So tired..." Michelle said sadly, surrendering to the embrace. "Make it quick?" She begged.

"No." The darker version of Michelle said after a moment. Michelle stiffened, but the other did not let go. "We...hear. We feel. The shields have failed. We are... connected. We...understand now. You are not alone, Michelle."

"_I am._" Michelle sobbed into her other self's shoulder. "Don't... I... Change me, make me mindless! Make me _forget_!"

"It would be wrong." The darker aspect of Michelle said softly. "We would accept you, but... It would be wrong."

"I don't understand." Michelle said slowly.

"I know." The darker aspect of Michelle said sadly. "And you likely won't. We cannot stop your change. Perhaps the Tenno can. But _this_, we can give you..." A feeling of deep compassion settled over Michelle and she relaxed back to the bed. "We understand about losing parts of ourselves. Farewell, Michelle." The darker aspect of herself said kindly. "We will meet again, someday. But not anytime soon."

"What?" Michelle gasped as the other her started to waver and vanish. "No..."

"You are not alone."

* * *

"Damn it, Michelle!" Iriana was cursing. "Don't you _dare_ die on me!" She nearly screamed.

Michelle...hurt. Her head hurt. Her arm hurt. But it was her chest that had tingles of electricity still pouring through her. She was lying on something hard, her flesh cold in the air.

"Medics enroute." The voice of Karl Sensei came to Michelle's ears. "Iriana? You okay?"

"I...I am. She..." Iriana gasped. "She took the virus back into herself. It... It changed her arm... into _that_."

"Don't cry, Iriana." Sudden silence greeted Michelle's words. "I did what I had to. Karl Sensei... Please...Make it swift."

"You are not rational enough to make that choice, Michelle." Karl said sternly. "No."

"_I am all alone!_" Michelle screamed, then gasped. "No... I... I didn't mean..." A gentle gloved hand touched her arm.

"What do you mean 'I am all alone'?" Iriana asked. "You are not. We are here." Michelle jerked her head away, but the gloved hand was on her jaw, turning it back. "Michelle... Please?"

"I...No..."Michelle gasped. "I... I can't..."

"She is one of a set of quintuplets. Her four birth sisters are all dead. They...shared a bond similar to the one some twins have." Another voice sounded nearby. It wasn't a voice she knew. Was it? It sounded familiar, but not. Then it clicked and she went totally still. She had prayed the Tenno was dead. "Isn't that right, Michelle?"

"My god..." Iriana breathed in horror. "She _felt_ each one die?"

"Michael." Karl Sensei's voice was stern. "How do you know this?" At the name 'Michael', Michelle listened carefully, judging where each person was by the sound of their voices. Four people in the room, counting herself. Karl, Iriana, Michelle...and _him_.

"I was monitoring her mind." The voice of the other male Tenno said calmly. "I was obeying orders. She explained to another aspect of herself why she tried to die. I can't really say I blame her."

"Get out of my head!" Michelle screamed, rolling towards the voice that she hated. Her body did not move as it should, but she threw what had been her hand forward in a punch. She felt something elongate and slam into a form nearby. Michael gave a satisfying 'oof' as he hit the wall with a clang, propelled by her hate even in his warframe. "I _will kill_ you!"

"Michelle!" Iriana snapped as other forms crowded into and then close, holding the furious Tenno down. "What the hell?"

"She has a right to her anger." The voice of the one called Michelle was rueful. "I gave her cause."

"What did you do?" Karl asked softly.

"He slept with all of my sisters and then dumped each in turn!" Michelle snapped. "They were looking for _comfort_ and they got _him!_" Michelle screamed. "_Lousy lying cheating scum!_"

"Focus on me, Michelle." Michael said calmly. "Get angry. Hold the infection back. That's it. Be angry..."

"_You don't own me!_" Michelle screamed. "_Father!_" Everything stopped again at her last word.

"_Father_?" Iriana asked in utter disbelief. "You..._slept_ with... your... ick..."

"_He is a liar!_" Michelle screamed. "He slept with my mom, left her to raise five of us _alone_! He slept with each of my sisters, left them. He clouded their minds, they... they..." She gasped as her energy fled quickly. "I... No..."

"I don't expect you to believe me, but I didn't have a choice, Michelle." The voice of her biological father said quietly. "It was a long time ago, and I have regretted it ever since."

"_Liar!_" Michelle screamed, trying to throw off the Tenno in warframes that held her. "_I will kill you! For mom, for all my sisters! You are dead! You hear me? Dead!_"

"Stay angry as long as you can, Michelle." The voice of the most hated being in Michelle's world came through. "Strong emotion slows the infection. It doesn't like the feeling."

"You are not helping, Michael." Karl said with a snarl. "Get out."

"Actually I am." Michael replied evenly. "More than you know. The Technocyte virus is..." He trailed off as the steely hiss of a sword being drawn sounded. "You wouldn't." He sounded dismayed.

"Try me." Karl responded coldly. "Get. Out."

"She needs my help." Michael protested.

"_Touch me and I will kill you, you lousy lying scum!_" Michelle screamed. Something hissed nearby and she was floating. She was still angry, but it couldn't pierce the haze of whatever drug she had been given. "Don't... Don't let him have me..." She begged the room.

"We won't." Karl said, a promise. "Aeron, Ric, get him out of here before _I_ kill him and deprive Michelle of the joy." The sounds of a struggle preceded Michael's protests from the room. "Iriana?" Karl asked.

"Aside from her arm, she seems okay." The healer said slowly. "I need to scan her and get myself scanned. Full quarantine until we are sure." Her voice turned super soft now. "Michelle...it's okay. We will help you."

"You can't." Michelle said, tears falling. "I... I am all alone..."

"No, you are not." A warm mass settled beside her and Iriana started to hum softly. "You are not alone."

"Alone...scared..." Michelle felt very small with that admission. "So... cold... Freeze me. Cryo...you don't remember... " She begged.

"it won't work now, Michelle." Iriana said sadly. "Not with this..." A finger tapped her not human feeling arm and Michelle felt fear being to build. "But we can and will help you. Do you think you can sleep?" She asked kindly.

"Scared to sleep." Michelle said, wilting. "Alone... Can't... I..."

"Your sisters were always there." Iriana's voice was sad. "And now they are not."

"Didn't like them." Michelle said, as a gentle hand wiped her tears away. "But...sisters... Gone. All alone."

"You are not alone." Iriana said gently. "They are bringing a quarantine gurney for both of us. I am not going anywhere, Michelle."

"Promise?" Michelle begged.

"I promise."

* * *

"You have got to listen to me." Michael's voice sounded and Michelle snapped up in the bed, her hand... Well, the pseudopod where her hand had been slamming into him and knocking him away despite his skeletal warframe. "Michelle! Please!"

"They begged you!" Michelle snapped. "They begged you to stay. To help. They begged you and what was it you said? 'Not my concern'?" She sneered. "Well... Anything you say is not _my_ concern! Get out of my mind!"

"Michelle, please..." The male Tenno rose to his feet. "You don't understand. It's all coming to fruition. All the plans, all the pain. It's culminating in _you_. I can help!"

"I don't _need_ your help, _Father_." Michelle spat the last word as an epithet.

"You will." Michael said as he stepped back, out of reach of her tentacle.

"All I need is for you to get the hell out of here." She paused. "Wait... what were _you_ doing in that...? You... You work for Grina... Like minds, huh?" She sneered.

"Mutual goals." Michael replied slowly. "Michelle..." He said in a plaintive tone. "Don't do this."

"Nisa said that when you left her in the middle of a battle." Michelle said with a snort. "Nice try, _father_. Get lost. And _stay_ that way this time!"

"You can access the Infested's deeper mental structure, Michelle." Michael protested. "We _need_ you!"

"All _I_ need is your still beating heart in my hand." Michelle said with a nasty smile. "Roasted. Maybe with a good Chianti and some fava beans." She rose and stalked forward. "Will you die if I take your heart here? Let's find out."

"This isn't over, Michelle." The form of her father vanished and Michelle sank to the floor, keening.

"It's okay, Michelle." Iriana's gentle voice came and Michelle spun to see Iriana lying on the bed. "Good work getting rid of him. He really is scum isn't he?"

"He is." Michelle said sadly. "I... how are you here?" She asked curiously.

"Duh?" Iriana said with a smile. "You do remember that I am a mental specialist?" Michelle froze and Iriana smiled fondly. "You need help. You saved me, it is the least I can do."

"You... I..." Michelle rose and shook her head. "I can't..."

"No funny business." Iriana said softly. "But you need some down time. How long since you let yourself cry, Michelle?"

"I...I was crying in the..." Michelle stammered, but Iriana just sighed.

"Come here." Before she knew it, Michelle found herself sitting on the bed, weeping as Iriana held her. As the medic comforted the stricken Tenno as best she could.


	9. Chapter 9

**Change is neither good nor bad**

"Time to wake up, Michelle." A cheerful voice brought Michelle out of a fuddled sleep. "Breakfast."

"A...Amelia...?" Michelle opened her eyes and froze.

She could see! She stared around herself. She was in a small Orokin patter room, but... It wasn't an Orokin facility, Not enough gold, and more gray. A Tenno facility. But... She stared down at herself. She was lying on a bed, her... She gulped as she saw the...thing that had replaced her right arm. It was long and flesh colored, but... Not human flesh. No fingers, no... She stared at it for a moment, then jerked her gaze away. She wore a Tenno bodysuit and was not restrained. A glance to the side showed Amelia. The doctor saw Michelle looking at her and smiled back, wide.

"Ah...?" Michelle tried again. "Amelia?" She repeated, confused. "Wha-?"

"I know it is a shock." Amelia said with a sigh. "It was to us too. But you are okay. You will be okay."

"No." Michelle said, staring at Amelia and then at her... Well, at what _had_ been her arm. "I... I kind of hoped it was a dream, you know? With the everything else... I hoped it was a hallucination. It wasn't." She said, fingering the tentacle. She could feel the fingers on...it. It didn't _feel_ wrong. But it was.

"Enough moping." Amelia said sternly. "You are going to eat, shower and then we have drill." Michelle's eyes went very wide at that but Amelia just set the tray down on a table close to the bed and waited, her arms crossed.

"Ah_?_" Michelle asked, confused. "_Drill?_"

"You don't think we are going to leave you to lie in bed all day, do you?" Amelia asked with a laugh. But then her smile faded. "Michelle, you need exercise. Come on. Food and exercise will do you good." She said in a wheedling tone.

"Amelia!" Michelle protested. "I am Infested!"

"So?" The doc asked. Michelle stared at her, jaw agape and Amelia laughed without humor. "Oh, you are going to have to do better than _that_, Michelle. You are a mess, but you are hardly the only hurt person in this dojo at the moment."

"I... I don't want to hurt anyone..." Michelle said softly, lying back and closing her eyes. "I just... Why can't you all just end me?"

"Sensei put it best, Michelle." Amelia said gently. "You are not rational. If you _become_ rational and choose that, no one will gainsay it. _Until_ you become rational, _or_ a danger to others. I am afraid you are stuck."

"But I _am_ a danger to others!" Michelle protested. "I mean... Look at me, Amelia!" She raised her tentacle a bit and gulped. "Why didn't you amputate it?"

"We did. Just below the shoulder where it...changes from Tenno to Infested." Amelia said quietly. Michelle went still and Amelia nodded. "It regrew right before our eyes. I am sorry, Michelle." The doctor said sadly. "We can't undo that." Michelle stared at the doctor, then put her head in her human hand and cried. "Oh, Michelle..." Amelia's voice turned sad. "I am sorry."

"I... I just..." Michelle gasped out. "I wanted to die. Why couldn't they -anyone, Infested, Tenno...anyone- have killed me?" The door behind Amelia opened and a new voice sounded.

"I can answer part of that." Iriana's voice preceded the healer into the room. Michelle had never actually seen Iriana in the flesh, but this had to be her. She looked tired, but her eyes lit up on seeing Michelle awake. "Back with us, lazybones?"

"Iriana..." Michelle said softly. "You are okay?" She nearly begged.

"Thanks to you, yes." Iriana said, coming to sit on the bed beside Michelle. Amelia moved to the door, but did not leave. "You need nourishment, Michelle. You are not alone." Michelle went still again as Iriana laid an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay. You are not contagious unless you bite someone. So _don't_." She said with a grin.

"Only one Tenno I want to bite." Michelle said darkly, not moving. "He won't give up."

"Well, _he_..." Amelia said, her own tone going savage. "...can kiss all of our asses." She shook her head and her mood mellowed again. "You are ours now. Not his."

"_Yours?_" Michelle asked dubiously. "Ah... Do _I_ get a say in this?" She asked plaintively. Both Iriana and Amelia shook their heads and Michelle groaned.

"Nope." Iriana said with a grin. "You have been remanded into the custody of Karl's clan. Considering that Karl and company were ready to ah...forcibly extract you and me from the middle of that colony, I think the Elders made the right choice in letting you go." Michelle stared at her, thinking the healer was joking, but Iriana shook her head. "Karl was mad. Angrier than I have ever seen him. And that is saying something since I saw a recording of him killing Nicholas. If your father had shown his face during the evacuation, he would be dead right now." Michelle shivered and Iriana gave her a squeeze. "What did he do to your sisters?"

"I don't know for sure." Michelle said sadly. "The...link that we shared... It was fuzzy, indistinct." She picked her words carefully, but nether Amelia or Iriana hurried her. "I just... Every one of them saw him as they fell. They saw him as someone who had seduced them. The... The feelings... I..." She felt her eyes burn and Iriana hugged her tight.

"Easy, easy..." Iriana said gently. "It's okay, Michelle. You are not alone. Not now. Not ever. I am here, Michelle. I am here..." She said as Michelle started to cry. "Oh, Michelle. It's okay..." She crooned as Amelia came close. "You need to eat."

"I don't know if I can keep it down." Michelle said sadly after a moment.

"You need to try." Iriana said gently. "And you need to do it yourself." Michelle gulped a bit, then sat up straight and nodded . Iriana smiled at her. "Good girl."

"Are you going to mother me?" Michelle asked plaintively as Amelia pulled a chair from the table nearby.

"Do I need to?" Iriana asked innocently. Michelle jerked, her hand coming up in a warding gesture and her tentacle moving to block her face as well. She stared at the tentacle and slowly lowered it. "You need to try, Michelle." Iriana said quietly. "Here..." She produced a long fabric object and placed it around Michelle's neck. It turned out to be a sling. She eased the tentacle into it. "Can you roll it up?"

"I.. um..." Michelle looked at her tentacle and slowly reached out with her hand, then froze as the tentacle rolled up, almost of its own accord. It lay quiescent within the sling. "Oh my god..." She said, trying not to gibber.

"It's all right." Iriana said quickly, hugging Michelle's shivering form tight. "It's all right. Come on, you will feel better with some food in you."

"This is wrong!" Michelle protested as Iriana pulled her gently to her feet and steered her towards the table. "I... This is wrong!" She repeated.

"Everyone agrees with that." Iriana said heavily. "But we cannot change it. We -and you- need to accept what we cannot change, Michelle." Her grip was gentle but adamant as she eased Michelle into the chair by the table. "Eat." She commanded.

"I... Uh..." Michelle stared at the tray, the platters that Amelia reached around her to uncover. As soon as the smells reached her nostrils, her stomach started to growl. She swallowed heavily and the reached for the spoon with her left hand.

It was slow going. Michelle had always been right hand dominant. Tenno were trained to be ambidextrous, but that mainly applied to weapons. She hadn't tried to use her left hand for tiny tasks -like filling a spoon with warm oatmeal and moving it to her mouth- in a long, long time. She fumbled more than a few of the spoonfuls. The front of her bodysuit was quickly coated in oatmeal, but neither medic would relent. She focused on making her movements slow and precise and before she was halfway through the bowl, she was managing it every time. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the cup of juice but it was embarrassment, not fatigue that nearly had her spilling it despite the travel lid. Finally, she was done and sat back, staring down at her front.

"Good." Iriana said with a fond smile. "Come on." She pulled Michelle up. Amelia grabbed the tray and left before Michelle could form a protest. Iriana brooked no balking and half guided, half pushed Michelle into the washroom. "Shower. Now." Iriana commanded.

"Anyone ever told you that you are a tyrant, healer?" Michelle said sourly as she started to strip out of her filthy bodysuit. She froze, half undressed as Iriana did the same. "Ah..."

"I am not letting you out of my sight." Iriana said gently, easing Michelle out of her clothing and into the stall. "Come on. I am the doctor, you are the patient. Do as I say and I won't have to be tyrant." She said with a grin.

"Why do I not believe that?" Michelle asked sourly as she did as instructed. She climbed into the shower stall, not even flinching as Iriana joined her. Tenno were rarely body shy but this...

Michelle was stiff as a board when the water started. But... She relaxed as she realized that Iriana was not going to do anything, was simply washing herself. Michelle focused on cleaning herself quickly and professionally. Even her...new appendage was subjected to cleaner and water. She had to admit, she felt a lot better when she was done. Iriana stepped out and a towel was handed in. Michelle smiled and toweled herself off as she stepped out only to freeze again.

"Good morning." A Tenno female that Michelle did not know was standing there, a clean bodysuit in hand. "You are late for drill. Sensei made allowances for you, but his patience is not infinite. Better get dressed." The woman was pregnant. It was early, but she was showing. "My name is Jac."

"M...Michelle." Michelle managed to get out as she hurriedly pulled the bodysuit on. Her tentacle slid right into the sleeve as if made for it and she swallowed heavily as Iriana put the sling back on and her tentacle curled up with no urging from her. "This is..." She shook her head and finished sealing the suit.

"Come on." Jac said quietly as Michelle finished. "You are not being coddled. They coddle _me._" The pregnant Tenno said sourly.

"And you love every minute of it." Iriana said with a grin as she finished her own preparations. Jac made a rude gesture at her and Iriana just laughed. "Come on, admit it. You do."

"I am a Warrior, Iriana!" Jac said sharply. "Not a..." She paused as Iriana laid a hand on her arm.

"You _were_ a warrior, Jac." Iriana said sadly. "Now you are a _mother_. Those are mutually exclusive. You can still train, gently. But you _cannot_ keep pushing yourself as hard as you have been. You _will_ hurt yourself _and_ your baby. Clear?" The medic demanded.

"I..." Jac stammered.

"I asked a question." Iriana seemed to swell. "Is that _clear_, Tenno Jac?" She demanded. Jac slumped and nodded. "Good." Iriana said softly. Then she relaxed and sighed. "I know you are chafing, Jac. It will get worse. But just like Michelle, you are not alone." Michelle jerked and then slumped a bit as well. Jac smiled at the to the Tenno, a commiserating look on her face.

"_Cecelia_ mothering me is bad enough." Jac said sourly. "I _never_ should have asked her to be a godparent. Now you _too?_"

"We do it because we love you, Jac." Iriana said with a smile. "Now. Drill." Her tone brooked no dawdling and both Michelle and Jac straightened.

"Yes, healer." They chorused. The two Tenno females stared at each other and laughed. Iriana joined in after a moment. Jac started off and the other two followed. After a moment of walking, Jac spoke.

"Everyone is curious about you, Michelle." The other female Tenno said with a sidelong glance that had Michelle stiffening. "But no one will press. You have as much right to the limited privacy available here as everyone else does."

"Do I?" Michelle asked, fingering her sling. She flinched as Iriana reached out and slapped her tentacle lightly.

"Stop that." Iriana snapped, her voice stern. "I _will_ turn you over my knee, girl. Don't think I can't or won't. Quit moping. Now. That's an order."

"Yes Ma'am." Michelle said, resigning herself to being coddled. "I will try."

"You better do more than try." Iriana said with a wince. "Karl Sensei was talking about tunes especially for you." Michelle stared as both she and Jac shuddered in unison.

"That is...bad?" Michelle asked after a moment. They entered and elevator and Jac pressed the 'down' button, the lift sinking through the distinctly Orokin tech tube.

"It wouldn't be bad if he could carry a tune in a bucket." Jac said with a grimace. "He can't." Michelle's eyes went wide at that."I know." Jac agreed quietly. "Don't... Don't give him cause to sing, _please._ I thought my ears were going to fall off when he punished Cecelia the last time. And to think I once liked 'Barrett's Privateers'... Fegh..." ( watch?v=ZIwzRkjn86w)

"He...can't sing?" Michelle asked with a gulp.

"Oh, he can _sing._" Jac said with a matching gulp. "Sort of. He just can't hold a _tune_. "She shook her head. "I didn't believe it. I mean, it's _Karl_... You know?" She shrugged. "Then I heard him." She shuddered again. She shook herself as they exited the elevator and straightened. "We are here."

The door head of them hissed open and the sounds of weapon's practice came through clearly. Inside the room, various Tenno stood in pairs, working out. A few of them were in warframes, others in bodysuits. All were focused on what they were doing. A form in an Excalibur Prime warframe stood slightly apart from the others. He nodded to Jac as she entered the room, looked at Michelle and nodded again, Michelle returned the nod. The MOA that Michelle had seen before was...running around the wall near the ceiling. Parkour? A MOA doing _Parkour_?

"Michelle." Karl's quiet voice sounded from behind her and Michelle jumped as she spun. Karl's white Rhino warframe had been against the wall beside the door. "You ready for some drill?"

"I..." Michelle swallowed herd. "Yes, Karl... Um... Just Karl?"She inquired politely.

"Karl or Karl Sensei if you want to be formal. We are not very formal most of the time." Karl said with a snort. Iriana sputtered a bit and he sighed. "Don't."

"I didn't say a thing." Iriana looked as if she had swallowed something silly.

"I know you, Iriana." Karl said with a sigh. "Karen needs to work on her Skana art. Partner with her, please?"

Iriana bowed and stepped to the barely visible mark on the floor that denoted the beginning of the training area. She bowed to the Excalibur Prime and then to a yin-yang symbol on the wall before stepping into the training area to carefully stride to where a absurdly young looking female Tenno stood, her Skana held awkwardly. Michelle shook her head and focused on Karl.

"You two are paired." Karl said quietly. Michelle froze and Karl nodded. "Basics only. No contact. Clear?"

"I only have one...hand...so... Yes, Karl Sensei." Michelle said formally. "May I request a dagger?" Karl held out a short wooden blade to her and she took it gingerly in her sole hand. "I...um..."

"No, I am not giving you live steel anytime soon." Karl said with a nod, his voice stern. "So don't bother to ask." Michelle bowed her head and nodded, accepting the rebuke and command. "Jac!" He snapped. Michelle spun to see Jac fall. The Tenno had been trying to move into a forward roll and her body hadn't works as it should. She was out of balance and falling! The girl gave a cry as she...

Everything stopped as Jac froze in place, her momentum arrested by the tentacle that held her gently until she could get her feet under her. As soon as she did, the elongated fleshy mass retreated back to Michelle's sling. Michelle swallowed, staring from Jac to Karl who both watched her.

"I..." Michelle stammered. "I am sorry. I didn't... I mean... I..."

"Well done." Karl said, freezing Michelle in mid-apology. He turned to Jac who had frozen in place. "Jac... You _do_ understand the word _'basics'_ right?" He asked sourly.

"I..." Jac swallowed and then bowed from the neck. "No excuse, Karl Sensei."

"The docs' ruling is 'no rolls'. No contact, no parkour and no rolls." Karl said heavily. "I don't want Amelia and Alicia mad at me. Actually..." He paused and looked at Michelle who flinched. "Do you think you can keep Jac from doing anything dumb, Michelle?" He asked Michelle who flushed.

"Don't ask the impossible of her, Sensei." A familiar voice said from nearby as the violet hulled MOA skidded to a stop from her wall run. "Jac..." She chided.

"I... I am sorry." Jac said with a shudder. "It... It was instinct. You know?"

"Muscle memory." Karl agreed. "So... you need to focus. Michelle..." He said and Michelle jerked as if someone had applied a hot iron to a tender part of her anatomy.

"Yes, um... Karl Sensei..." Michelle asked quietly, head bowed.

"You will lead the session. Jac will mirror. Cecelia will spot for both of you." Karl commanded. "One hand drills. No contact. Katas..." He paused, obviously thinking. "Katas one, three, seventeen and thirty-eight."

"Kata seven may strain her belly muscles, Karl Sensei." Michelle said softly, not daring to look up. Jac made a sour grunting sound, but Karl just chuckled.

"Good catch." Karl said with a nod. "Okay. One, three, _nine_, seventeen and thirty-eight. Jac..." He admonished. "Be good." With that, he walked away, leaving Michelle to stare after him and then turn to look at the MOA who stood expectantly and Jac who stood, her posture resigned.

"Okay..." Michelle said with a gulp. "Let's do this."


	10. Chapter 10

**Friends**

"That..." Michelle smiled as she toweled herself off. "...felt good."

The drill had been exhilarating. Her body remembered all of the moves. Well, most of them. The tentacle was throwing things off. Jac was a master as well, so both of them had worked themselves hard, but not too hard. They had done all the exercises and were not cooling off. Tenno bodysuits were for designed to facilitate connection to warframe interfaces, they had few built in systems.

"I have to ask..." Jac said as she did the same. "Don't answer if it bothers you." Michelle raised an eyebrow and Jac flushed. "Never mind."

Michelle raised what had been her right arm. "This?" She asked quietly. Jac nodded. "What about it?"

"It didn't feel like Infested flesh when you... Well." Jac flushed brighter in embarrassment.

"When she kept you from falling on your ass." Cecelia said snidely from her position by the door. Instead of answering, Jac threw her towel at the MOA. "Hey!" The MOA protested as the towel covered her ocular sensors. A mechanical appendage came up and grabbed the towel before Jac could retrieve it. "Mine!" The MOA declared, pulling it away from Jac's fingers.

"What are you going to do with a _towel?_" Jac asked with a wide grin. "You naughty robot!"

"That is for _me_ to know..." Cecelia said in a prim voice. "...and _you_ to guess!" Both female chuckled at the MOA's antics.

"Don't hit her with it, Cecelia." Michelle said quietly. "Even if she does deserve it. There are... other...better methods of revenge that will not actually do damage." Jac suddenly looked wary as Michelle smiled evilly. "I had four sisters." She paused and gulped. "I mean..."

"Hey." Jac said softly and pulled Michelle close. "It's okay. You are grieving. We all know grief." Cecelia made the bobbing motion that Michelle took as a nod from a form with no head. She hugged Michelle tight and then let the other Tenno go. "You are not alone."

"I know." Michelle said, taking a deep breath. "Here." She unrolled her tentacle from where it hung by her side out of the way and held it out to Jac who stared at it. "Go on. The docs say I can't infect by touch."

"You..." Jac shook her head and then reached out a slow hand to stroke the glistening appendage. "It doesn't feel like Infested flesh. I don't know what it feels like. I..." She shook her head again. "Thank you. That had to be hard." She gave a start as the tentacle wrapped gently around her hand. "What?"

"I can't shake your hand." Michelle said softly. "But I can do this." She stiffened as Jac pulled the tentacle close and held it to her chest. "Jac?"

"You are not a bad person and you are not alone." Jac said stoutly. "You are my friend. I am not going to treat you any other way." Jac's eyes were glistening as Michelle's started to burn. "You won't hurt me." Jac said as Michelle tried to pull away without causing harm.

"You don't know that, Jac!" Michelle snapped. "Please let go!" Jac did and Michelle retracted her tentacle with snap, curling it close.

"Michelle, you can't hide what you are." Jac said softly, stepping close, but pausing as Michelle retreated a step. "You are a good person who has been through anyone's definition of _hell_." Cecelia wasn't moving, but the MOA _was_ blocking the door, Michelle noticed. "What you just did was braver than anything..." Jac started to cry. "That alien part of you _terrifies_ you and you just... You indulged my selfish curiosity without even _thinking_ about it." She stepped close as Michelle stood frozen, throwing her arms around Michelle. "I know you are scared. But you are not alone!" She said firmly, hugging Michelle tight.

"Jac... I..." Michelle stammered, unsure of what to do, what to say. "I don't... I can't..."

"Just give us a chance." Jac pleaded. "We can be a bit much." Cecelia made a strangled noise and Jac chuckled wetly. "Cecelia..."

"We _are_ a bit much." Cecelia said softly as she stepped close, her metal beak coming close enough to touch Michelle on the arm. It was a gentle touch. "We are all we have, Michelle. And you... We have you now too. Maybe we can help you, maybe we can't. But give us a chance. Please?" The MOA begged.

"Jac... Cecelia..." Michelle protested. "When this infection reaches my brain... I will cease to be. I will turn into a mindless monster. Don't..." She broke off as Cecelia nudged her.

"It hasn't yet." Cecelia said with a sigh. "The docs are working overtime, I am running every search routine I have, looking for data. Don't give up. We won't give up on you. My friend." Michelle felt her lips start to quiver and then she was crying, holding both Cecelia and Jac.

A timeless moment later, all three jumped as throat cleared nearby. They broke apart and spun to see Karl in his warframe looking at them. He seemed...unconcerned at finding them hugging and crying.

"You three all right?" Karl asked quietly.

"We...needed to get something settled." Jac said with a nod. "We are good." Cecelia bobbed but remained silent.

"Michelle?" Karl asked quietly. "You okay?"

"As well as I can be." Michelle said with a slightly sick grin. "I seem to have been _told_ that I have friends whether I want them or not. Whether it is _safe_ for them or not." She said sourly.

"Jac and Cecelia are bit stubborn." Karl said calmly. Jac tried to look innocent but he just shook his head. "Nice try, Jac." He said dryly. "Jac? You and Michelle have appointments in Medical. Cecelia? Did the call get answered?"

"It did." Cecelia said in a concerned voice. "But it was...odd."

"Well..." Karl actually laughed. "_He_ is a bit odd. What did he say?"

"He said he would be in touch, Karl Sensei. Today." Cecelia said with a odd shake. "Um..."

"_You_ have an appointment with Ric, Cecelia." Karl said sternly. "You want that glitch fixed, right?"

"Glitch?" Jac and Michelle both chorused. They stared at each other and then at Cecelia who sighed.

"Nothing major, just an odd power spike." Cecelia said with sigh. "It's a short I can't fix myself. Okay. I'll go." She nuzzled Michelle and Jac one more time and then dashed out the door, her metal feet clanging.

"She makes me feel...old." Jac said with a grin. Karl chucked at her tone and then nodded.

"Can I trust you two not to get up to deviltry between here and Medical?" Karl asked with a grin in his voice.

"Yes, sir." The two women chorused. Then Michelle paused.

"Yes?" Karl asked kindly.

"I...um..." Michelle shook her head. "Thank you, Karl Sensei." She said formally. "Even if this doesn't work out in the end. Thank you for being who and what you are. Thank you for your support, your protection and your care. Is there anything I can help with?"

"Actually, yes." Karl said with a nod. "The call is to a consultant of sorts. An older Tenno with a heck of a reputation. He will want to talk to you about what your father did." Michelle stiffened. "He is a good man, Michelle. I will be there." Karl promised.

"So will I!" Jac stated, only to pause as Karl looked at her. "If... If the medics and Karl Sensei allow it."

"Don't forget your husband." Karl said with a laugh. "Aeron is better, but...still... Let's not push it."

"Ah..." Jac squirmed a bit and then nodded. "Yes, Karl Sensei." She said meekly.

"Go on." Karl said, making a 'shooing' gesture. "Don't keep the docs waiting. Michelle? I will let you know when my consultant arrives. I will also want to talk to you about incorporating tentacle type attacks in our training regime if you can." Michelle stared at him and then nodded, thinking hard.

"That would help." Michelle said softly. "But it is flimsy..." She uncoiled it a bit to look at the tip. "It's not as tough as Ancient skin. We can try."

"Would you mind having the docs do some tests on it?" Karl asked with a nod. "It could help. I have seen so many Tenno getting blindsided by tentacle attacks they didn't think could hit them." He shook his head. "And not all rookies either. I have been hit by a few myself that seemed to come out of nowhere."

"We will see." Michelle said quietly. "I will ask the docs to check it thoroughly."

"Only if you are comfortable with it." Karl said with a nod. "Go on." Both women nodded and moved away quickly.

"Is he out of his _mind?_" Jac asked when they were out of earshot. "You hate that thing!" Outrage poured from her.

"He is doing what a leader does." Michelle replied evenly. "Contemplating possibilities. Note he didn't _order_ me to do anything. He asked." Jac grimaced and then subsided a bit.

"You took it as an order." Jac said as they made their way into the elevator.

"I..."Michelle thought about that and then slumped a bit. "Yeah. I guess I did." Jac made a face as she hit the up button and Michelle nodded. "It is hard you know? On one level, I am a battle sister. On another, a guest. On yet another, a patient. Somewhere in there, a prisoner."

"I know." Jac agreed. "The docs are going to yell at me. The look Alicia gave me when you saved me from falling promised me that she would...um...speak to me." Jac gulped. "I would almost prefer fighting."

"If you were fighting you could it people." Michelle waited for a moment as the elevator rose and then spoke. "Jac?"

"Hmmm?" Her friend replied.

"What does it feel like?" Michelle asked, her eyes far away. "I..." Jac looked at her and Michelle flushed. "I am female. I...never thought about kids but..." She froze as Jac took her human hand and placed it against the other woman's belly. "Wha-?"

"Sometimes it doesn't feel any different." Jac said quietly. "Sometimes I feel heavy or bloated. Sometimes I just feel fat. I know it is going to get worse, but you know what? I feel... whole for the first time since I assumed my first warframe." Michelle stroked Jac's belly and then withdrew her hand. Jac smiled. "Did you ever want kids?"

"Not that I can remember." Michelle admitted. "Mom had a lot of trouble with five of us at once."

"I can't imagine _five_ at once." Jac said with a frown. "And that scumsucker just left her to it..." Now the frown turned furious.

"She had a little help from other kin, and then when we got old enough to take care of ourselves, we did." Michelle said, eyes starting to burn again. "I..."

"Hey, come here." Jac said, pulling Michelle into another hug. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of bad things."

"She was so stern." Michelle said as she left the embrace. The door chimed and opened, they left the elevator and started on the short walk to Medical. "She never laughed. Ever. She never wanted to see us laugh. So... We learned not to in her presence."

"What?" Jac demanded, but then they were at Medical. They walked in to see Amelia standing there, tapping her foot in impatience.

"Jac." Amelia said flatly. Jac winced and Amelia nodded. "Room Three. Alicia is expecting you. Go. Now." The doctor snapped. She thawed a little as Jac hugged Michelle again, then darted off. A raised voice sounded from a door that opened in front of her.

"Jac, you _idiot!_" The other female voice was cut off when the door closed behind Jac.

Michelle stared at the now closed door and then at Amelia who smiled a bit more openly.

"She scared us." Amelia said with a wince. "Falls at this stage are the single most common cause for miscarriage." Michelle's eyes went wide at that and Amelia nodded. "Good save. Thank you." She said kindly. "You ready?"

"As ready as I am going to be." Michelle admitted. Amelia smiled, stepped close and laid a hand on her human arm.

"I don't know if we _can_ help." Amelia admitted. "But we are going to do everything we can. Come on."

A twitch of the hand on her arm had Michelle starting off with Amelia. They walked to another room where an exam table was laid out with scanners all around it. Without being prompted, Michelle laid down on it and Amelia started connecting systems and powering up the scanners.

"Amelia?" Michelle asked after she was as comfortable as she could get. Exam tables were built to be durable, not comfortable.

"Yes?" Amelia asked absently.

"Scan... my right... um..." Michelle stammered as Amelia paused and turned to look at her. "I need to know what the flesh is capable of."

"Why?" Amelia asked, suspicion mounting.

"I want to see about incorporating tentacle strikes into my techniques." Michelle said quietly. Amelia actually growled and Michelle stiffened. "What?"

"What did he say to you?" Amelia snapped, irate.

"Ah..." Michelle stammered. "What?"

"What did _Karl_ say to you?" Amelia said, her tone savage. "He asked me about that and I told to quote' back off' end quote. He ambushed you, didn't he?"

"Amelia, it is not like that." Michelle said with a wince. This was not going well. "This is part of me now." She raised the tentacle a bit and studied it in the strong light of the scanner room. "I can ignore it and hope it goes away or I can try to work with it." She sighed. "Ignoring things rarely helps." Then she chuckled. "I bet that is why he asked me, to get me thinking."

"You are not ready!" Amelia said with a scowl worthy of a Grineer. "I told him that!"

"Amelia." Michelle said calmly. "I was there to help Jac today. If I can...help...repay..." She felt wetness on her cheeks again and shook her head savagely. "I..." She started as a hand found hers. She looked up to see Iriana had come in. The other healer's face was sad.

"Ah, Michelle." Iriana said sadly. "Don't push it. We will scan." This was a command to Amelia, who scowled but nodded. "But you need to relax. You did good in the drill, but we have to start with small steps, okay?"

"Okay." Michelle said quietly as Amelia started the machinery. "Iriana?" She asked as the healer did not step back.

"I know my bio-signature inside and out." The healer replied as scanner energy played over Michelle. "We can filter it. You need me. I am here. You are not alone." She gave Michelle's hand a squeeze.

"You are all so good to me." Michelle said softly. "I don't feel worthy of this."

"You are." Iriana said kindly. "I am going to have to go back soon." The healer said with a sad frown. "The others want me back. Sara and Mishka are running roughshod over everyone. Serene is trying, but she is stuck in a wheel chair _and_ pregnant!" Michelle surprised herself with a chuckle and Iriana growled humorously. "Go ahead, laugh. You will see. Someday. I am betting that Jac will ask you to help babysit." Michelle chuckled again and smiled at Iriana.

"I wouldn't mind." Michelle said quietly. "And I _do_ hope to meet your kids and sister someday. Count me a friend, Iriana. If you need me, call."

"I might." Iriana said with a smile. "The scan cycle will take an hour or so. Think you can sleep? I am here." She said gently. "You are not alone." The constant repetition helped a little.

"Intellectually, I know that." Michelle said with a gulp. "But... Emotionally?" She closed her eyes as beams of energy played over her body.

"I know." Iriana said as Amelia pulled a chair close. She smiled at Amelia and sat, still holding Michelle's hand. "Sleep if you can."

"I don't think I can." Michelle said after a moment. "Still too keyed up. Jac and Cecelia demanded to be friends with me." Iriana chucked and Michelle grimaced. "Yeah."

"Better give in gracefully." Amelia said form where she was working. "Those two have the subtlety of a Grineer Galleon's cannon. And they can be nearly as loud by all accounts."

"I got that feeling." Michelle said with another chuckle. "Ah well..."She sighed and relaxed, settling herself for a long day.


	11. Chapter 11

**Alert**

Michelle was reading in one of the common rooms when she saw it. Something that didn't...fit. The warframe wasn't out of place, but... it was. The Frost Prime was only visible for a moment in a narrow window on one wall, and then it was gone. But... She shook herself and turned to the other occupant of the room.

"Um... Cora?" Michelle asked, a bit timid. The other female was seriously intimidating. Cora had muscles on her muscles. Even sitting, pretending to read as she was, she was coiled and ready to move. She was also armed.

"Yes, Michelle?" Cora said, not looking up from her book. Michelle did not miss the quick eyes that tracked over her before returning to fake her reading. Cora was a guard, not a fellow reader.

"I didn't know you had Frost Prime warframes. How many do you have?" Michelle asked slowly. "They are rare."

"Original model of the Frost or so Sensei tells me. We have one full set and some spares." Cora grunted. "Hard to repair, but tough. Why?" She asked.

"No reason, just saw one." Michelle said offhanded, but went still as Cora did. "What?"

"Where?" Cora demanded, her entire being changing from fake lassitude to ready in a heartbeat. Her book reader fell and her Braton rifle came down to a ready position as she rose.

"At the window." Michelle waved at the narrow strip of plexi that served as a window of sorts to the corridor. "Why?"

"None of our clan wear Frost Prime warframes at the moment." Cora said with a snarl. "Are you sure?" She asked when Michelle went stiff.

"Good hoops on the head. Water vapor coming from the upper arm emitters." Michelle said, not daring to move. "It was a Frost Prime."

"Are you _sure_?" Cora pressed, going to the window and looking out, but nothing was in sight now. She turned back a bit as Michelle snarled.

"No!" Michelle just about threw the book reader away. "No, I am _not_ sure about anything! Everything I know or think I knew has all gone to hell. My body is not my own. My mind is falling apart! Yes! I could have been seeing things..."

"Calm down." Cora's words cut through Michelle's started rant and Michelle shut her mouth with a click. "I don't doubt you, but..." She paused and cursed vilely in what sounded like Grineer. "Security systems are not responding! We have a breach!" Michelle started to rise and Cora shook her head. "You. Stay down." She commanded, her mannerisms suddenly much more like a Grineer. She moved to the door and the com panel there. "Dead." She snapped. "Whoever it was wants us isolated."

"I... uh..." Michelle shook a bit. "What?"

"Sensei was worried about Grina trying something stupid." Cora replied. "Hence why I am here instead of Jac. We need to get to Medical. It's not far." She cursed again. "Internal security systems are not responding. Come on." She commanded as she moved to the door sinuously. "This room is not secure-able."

"Ok." Michelle said, rising quickly and moving to where Cora indicated for here to stand. "What do I do?"

"Neither of us are in warframes, so if I tell you to run, you run, okay?" Cora said with a nod. Michelle bit her lip but nodded. "They are probably after you. Catch or kill it makes no difference. If they do, Karl will go to war." Michelle went white at that and Cora nodded. "Yeah."

"With other Tenno...?" Michelle asked weakly. "He can't... He can't _do_ that."

"No, with _Grina_." Cora replied absently, as she slid into the hallway, her rifle tracking with her eyes. "And we would _not_ be alone. Takeshi Circle and other Warrior clans would stand with us. Grina is playing a _very_ dangerous game and he has no clue of the consequences." She waved to Michelle to follow.

"I always thought Grina was a woman." Michelle said softly as she did as instructed. "But...the voice I heard was male."

"Don't know. Don't care." Cora said with a snap. "Clear to the next junction. Slow and careful."

"How far to Medical?" Michelle asked. "I was... not paying enough attention."

"Two hundred meters." Cora replied calmly. "You are out of sorts. One reason Karl Sensei sent me, in case you lost it." Michelle nodded soberly. If she did, Cora would stop her, permanently.

It was a slow and nerve wracking journey, but nothing happened. They made it to Medical and Cora slid in, her rifle seeking targets but not finding any. She beckoned Michelle in as a voice sounded.

"What the-?" Alicia's voice was sharp. "Cora! What is going on?" Michelle saw the Tenno healer nearby and nearly cried in relief when she realized that Alicia was in her waframe.

"I can't access the security systems." Cora said quietly, her rifle still tracking. "Can you?"

"I..." Alicia stiffened and then her posture became worried. "No. What is going on? System failure?"

"I don't think so." Cora replied uneasily. "Michelle saw a Frost Prime."

"Oh no..." Alicia gulped. "He didn't..."

"We don't know _what_ is going on." Cora replied calmly. "Until we _do_, we should fort up and get word to Sensei. Where is Jac?"

"Her ultrasound is almost done." Alicia replied, stepping to the side and palming open a locker. Michelle was unsurprised to see weapons inside. This _was_ a Tenno facility after all. She pulled out a Bolto pistol and shut the locker. "I'll go." Alicia said, moving towards the door.

"Alicia..." Cora growled softly. She was acting more and more like a Grineer now, Michelle noted.

"I am in a warframe, you are not." Alicia's calm tone ended the argument before it really began. "Room seven is the bunker. Get Jac, Michelle and Amelia in there and _keep_ them there!" Cora nodded to empty air as Alicia ran out at full speed.

"Alicia?" Amelia's voice preceded the other healer into the main bay. She stepped into sight with Jac and both females froze on seeing Cora with her rifle drawn. "Cora? What is going on?"

"Security has been breached. Systems are not responding." Cora said quietly. Both females paled at that and Cora nodded. "Alicia is off to find Sensei. We need to fort up." Amelia and Jac moved to the locker and drew Lato pistols of their own. Michelle did not ask for one. There was no way they would let her handle a firearm even in a security alert. Jac moved to stand beside Michelle as Amelia moved to a control panel nearby.

"Ah... just to be sure..." Amelia said slowly as she tapped a panel then grimaced. "Com is out. Security systems are not responding. Intruder?"

"Michelle saw a Frost Prime." Cora said quietly. Jac and Amelia hissed at that and both nodded. "No idea who."

"Room seven is the bunker. Reinforced walls. One door." Amelia said, calming. "We have backup coms as well as food and ammunition."

"You have been busy." Cora said, not taking her eyes -or her rifle muzzle- off the entrance.

"With Grina's silliness, Alicia thought it best to be prepared." Amelia said with a grimace. "I played along. Didn't think we would need it."

"Better to have it and not need it." Michelle said softly as Jac reached out to touch her.

"You okay?" Jac asked, worried, her eyes flicking here and there, her pistol down and to the side.

"Scared." Michelle said softly. "If it _is_ Grina... Won't he start a civil war by attacking your clan?"

"Only if he leaves survivors." Cora replied with a snarl. "Probably figures on killing us all and blaming the Grineer." Michelle felt her guts clench.

"Cora." Jac said mildly, taking Michelle's human hand in her free one. Cora subsided but did not relax her vigilance. "I'll check room seven." She gave Michelle's hand a squeeze then moved off, Amelia's cry of protest ignored.

"Crazy girl..." Amelia said in fond exasperation. "Michelle? How you doing?"

"Scared out of my mind, but whole." Michelle replied as she moved to one side, out of the line of sight of the door. "If it comes down to it, give me to him."

"Like hell." Cora snapped. "I don't know what he wants you for but whatever it is won't be good, for you or any Tenno."

"Did Iriana get clear?" Michelle asked after a moment. Amelia nodded and Michelle relaxed a bit. "Good."

"She let an hour ago via key." Amelia said with a grimace. "I am never going to get used to seeing people disappear into thin air."

"You say that now..." Jac said with a laugh as she came into sight. "Clear." Her pistol was up and tracking, but careful not to aim at anyone.

"Go on." Cora said, not moving. "I will hold the door."

"Cora..." Amelia said with a scowl.

"You three are non-combatants." Cora said with a snarl that brooked no hesitation. "Go. Now."

Michelle did not delay. She started for where Jac was standing, careful not to block the armed Tenno's line of fire. Amelia followed quickly. They made it to room seven without incident and went in. The room was piled high with supplies of various kinds but easily had space for the three off them. Amelia sighed as Jac shut the door and stood beside it, pistol ready. Jac shook her head.

"I may not be on the combat roster, doc." Jac said quietly. "But I am still a better shot than you."

"It goes against the grain." Amelia said with a grunt as she moved two boxes of supplies to have someplace to sit. "Michelle? How you doing?"

"Scared." Michelle repeated. "I just... I saw that Frost Prime and didn't think anything of it. If I hadn't said anything..."

"They likely would have taken Cora by surprise." Jac said softly. "It would have cost them more than they can guess, but they would have taken her. She is good, but she is not Tenno."

"Is she Grineer?" Michelle asked after a moment of thought. Jac nodded. "How did _that_ happen?" Michelle demanded incredulous.

"Let's just say that Karl has a habit of finding recruits in odd places." Amelia said with a laugh. Michelle transferred her incredulous gaze to the doc who shrugged. "Yeah, me too. I was...a guest of the Tenno and well...still am..." She opened the neck of her bodysuit and Michelle inhaled sharply as she saw a restraint collar blinking on the doc's neck. Amelia nodded ad closed her collar. "Not that I will ever betray Karl or our clan. But he had to talk fast to get me out of lockup."

"You were a prisoner?" Michelle asked, dazed by all this.

"I _am_ a prisoner." Amelia corrected her gently. "The Corpus used me to break into Serene's mind. What I learned cannot be unlearned and must never fall back into Corpus hands. Serene actually captured me, way back when. Brought me to the Tenno who...well... They were not happy."

"I heard...some of that." Michelle admitted. "Wasn't she shot?"

"Among other things." Amelia said sadly. "Good Tenno. A crazy woman mind you, but a good Tenno." She smiled at Jac. "Kind of like others I might name."

"I have no idea who you might be talking about." Jac said primly. Michele had to smile as Amelia made a face, which Jac ignored. "Try the com?"

"Oh, yeah." Amelia turned to the pile of gear and started rummaging as Michelle sank into seiza on the floor. Amelia pulled a com set out of the pile and switched it on. "Here we go... Medical reporting. Any other sections on this channel?"

"Amelia." Karl's voice came through immediately. "Who is with you?" Both she and Jac stiffened.

"I have three with me." Amelia said softly. "Protocol Six?" She asked.

"Who is with you?" Karl's voice pressed and Amelia shut the com down, staring at it.

"That wasn't Karl was it?" Michelle asked, terror starting to build.

"No." Amelia said sharply. "They have hacked our coms, whoever they are. Have to be Tenno to get in without being detected." She shook her head. "Jac, lock the door and scramble the cipher." Jac looked at her and nodded.

"All this...for me?" Michelle said, stunned. "Grina is insane."

"We know that." Amelia said with a sigh. "Ever since he said that he wanted to dissect a fellow Tenno's brain to discover why the man couldn't get angry, we have known that." She shook her head. "This isn't just about you, Michelle. We stuck Grina good. He will want payback."

"One thing..." Michelle said with a frown. "I thought Elder Grina was a woman." Neither Jac nor Amelia responded. "But the voice I heard was male." She paused when neither replied. "I don't want to know, do I?"

"No, you don't." Amelia said with a shudder. "I wish I didn't. I wish I knew of some kind of brain cleaner than didn't wipe it entirely."

"That...falls under the heading 'Too Much Information'... doesn't it?" Michelle asked fearfully. Amelia nodded. "Then don't tell me." She begged.

"You have had enough emotional shocks this week." Amelia said kindly. "I wouldn't-" She broke off as the sound of gunfire came through the walls. All three paled. They knew the sound. A Braton. Cora. It fired in short, sharp bursts and then... it stopped with dreadful finality.

"Cora..." Michelle breathed. "No..."

"We don't _know_ what is happening." Amelia said with a growl. "But just in case." She pulled a box from a pile and opened it, pulling air masks from it. She tossed one to Jac who caught it one handed and slipped it on. Michelle fumbled the one Amelia tossed her and, face red, pulled it on as Amelia followed suit. "Anything really nasty will work on skin contact, but these will protect against common knockout agents."

"What do we do?" Michelle asked softly.

"We don't let them take you." Amelia replied, her pistol up and aimed at the door. Jac's pistol was aimed there as well. Everything went still as a whine sounded. A drill? A 'chunk' noise came and Jac laughed sourly.

"Good armor, doc." The Tenno said quietly, her aim point not shifting. "if they have a laser..." A whine sounded now and she sighed. "I'll just shut up now before I tempt Murphy anymore."

"It's ablative." Amelia said softly. "Meant to shed explosions. It won't hold long against a Spectra or Flux Rifle."

"Well..." Jac said slowly. "Got any grenades in that pile?" Amelia shook her head. "Pity."

"Give me to them." Michelle begged. "You can give me to them!"

"Michelle..." Jac said gently. "Even if we do, which we wont... If they leave live witnesses, they are screwed. Period. The other clans will obliterate them." She jerked as a glowing dot appeared on the door, molten metal falling from a neatly cut hole.

Then, everything stopped as a form simply appeared in the middle of the room. The Frost Prime shook his head.

"There is no need for this, girls." The Frost said calmly. "No one is dead. Yet. Give us the Infested and we will leave."

"This is not possible." Jac said, her face ashen. "You are dead."

"Am I?" The Frost replied. "Well, maybe. But _you_ are trespassing in my home. Give us the Infested. Now."

"This isn't real!" Jac snapped as both Amelia and Michelle stared. "It's a Nekros shadow! It's not really Nicholas!"

Nicholas. At that name, Michelle felt very single corpuscle of her blood suddenly still into immobility. Renegade. Murderer. Traitor. Leader of traitors. But then, the other part of what Jac had said sank in and Michelle's lethargy vanished as she felt rage boil up.

"Leave them alone, _father!_" Michelle screamed. "Your quarrel is with _me!_" The door fell in with a clang and several warframes were visible, but the one in the front was distinctive. The Nekros known as Michael was shaking his head.

"Oh, my dear. We have no quarrel." He said gently. "It's time to come home." The Acrid in his hand spat.


	12. Chapter 12

**Taken**

Michelle dodged as the darts passed by her. But they wasn't aimed at her. Jac gave a cry that cut off with a thump and another followed. Michelle turned her head to see Jac lying on the floor, Amelia beside her. Both had darts sticking out of their suits.

"If you have killed them..." Michelle said softly. "There is _nowhere_ in this system or the Void you can hide." She knelt beside Jac and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the other Tenno's chest rise and fall. Alive. She straightened her friend's limbs before turning to face her father. "No dart for me?"

"The tranquilizer works on Tenno and humans." Michael said evenly. "Won't work on you. Come along, dear. Your future awaits."

Now she could see behind him. Two warframes stood quietly, both with Acrids in hand, probably both dosed with tranquilizers. One was familiar, a Frost Prime. Maybe the one she had seen? This one was corporeal unlike the shadow that had faded when the door fell in. The other... Michelle's eyes narrowed as she looked at the odd faceplate with its huge light. The Mag Prime stared back at her. Both Primes stood as if...nervous.

"How much did you _pay_ them to start a civil war, _Father_?" Michelle asked sourly as she rose to her full height and slowly, so slowly unrolled her tentacle from her side. Both Prime stiffened further. "What _is_ the going rate for _stupidity_ these days?"

"We aren't going to start a civil war." Michael said quietly. "We haven't killed anyone yet. And we won't if you come. Now." He commanded.

"You do _not_ command me." Michelle said calmly. "How long have you _got_ before Karl comes busting in here like... well... like an irritated Rhino?" She asked with a feral smile.

"We have time." Michael said softly. "Don't make us hurt you, Michelle."

"_There_ is the problem, then, Daddy not-so-dearest." Michelle said sarcastically. "I don't _care_ what you want."

"Michelle, we are so close. We can stop this horrible war in its tracks. Stop this awful carnage." Michael said softly. "We need you. You are the key."

"A key?" Michelle said with a snort. "Ah, so I go with you. You impregnate me and then you toss me to some enemy to _die_, right?" She shook her head as the Mag Prime stared at her and then at Michael. "He didn't tell you? He did it to all of my sisters. Why _wouldn't_ he do it to me?"

"Petra, she is trying to confuse you. Don't listen." Michael said softly. "Michelle. Come out of that room. Now." He commanded. "Or we will come in for you. If we do... Those two will be hurt."

"As if you care about such things." Michelle said with a snarl. "But then again... I am Tenno even if _you_ are scum. I understand the word 'honor' even if you wouldn't know it if it bit you. Which it will eventually." Her voice turned flat. "Touch them and you _die_. You minions may be able to subdue me, but I _will_ kill you before I go down."

"We don't want to hurt anyone, Michelle-" Michael began, but paused as Michelle snarled louder.

"So Sina, Coriana, Nisa, Oria.." Michelle said slowly. "They were 'no one'?" She asked, her voice going very soft. Dangerous.

"I tried it with Eliza, Michelle." Michael said with a sigh. "Your mother. It didn't work..." He paused as Michelle gave out a cry of anguish. "I didn't _kill_ her! I didn't _kill_ any of them!"

"No." Michelle agreed against her will. "But you were shadowing each when they died. You seduced each of them. Why? What was the _point_?"

"Come with me and you will find out." Michael said, holding out his hand. "Please. They wouldn't be swayed. Perhaps _you_ will."

Instead of answering, Michelle's tentacle flew out, catching him in the center of his chest and throwing him back between the two Prime warframes to fetch up against the corridor wall. Both Primes stared at Michelle as she screamed.

"_Never!_" It was hopeless, she had no chance against two warframes. She didn't care. She was too enraged. She charged. Something... changed. She was suddenly energized while Michael seemed to be fumbling.

"Look out!" Michael snapped. "She disrupted me!" The Mag Prime tried an arm bar on Michelle's human arm, but Michelle flowed with the move. Michelle had one slim advantage. They didn't want to hurt her. She was under _no_ such compunctions.

It was fast and brutal. Two on one usually was. Never mind what ancient entertainment media had always said about hand to hand fights, most of that was bunk. If an unblocked strike by a hand to hand master got through in actual combat... Well... If the recipient was not protected somehow, that person went down and _stayed_ down. It was quickly clear that both of the Primers were good but not in Michelle's class. Younger maybe? Definitely less experienced in combat. She feinted at the Mag again and then threw her tentacle at the Frost who had moved into an offensive stance. He blocked it and then recoiled as his shields vanished. From experience, she knew his HUD was fuzzing and his energy reserves had vanished.

Pain exploded in the back of Michelle's head as the Mag got in a solid strike and Michelle fell to her knees. She rolled forward, her tentacle balancing her perfectly as the Mag tried to capitalize on her injury, only to meet the tentacle as Michele swung back to her feet, eyes streaming tears of rage and pain.

"Michelle! Stop!" Michael called as Michelle ducked a clumsy swing from the Frost and connected with a foot strike that made something in her foot go 'snap'. There was no pain. But then there was and she used the pain as a fulcrum to bring her rage to the fore.

The warframe's heavy armor defeated her attack, but she used the momentum to push off from the Frost and fly towards the Mag who was trying to get hold of her. Then they separated. Both Primes were trying to avoid the tentacle and Michelle used that to her advantage, swinging it this way and that like a whip. Both retreated from her attacks. Neither of them went for the rifles or melee weapons they carried. They really did want her alive.

It was a fairly even match. Both of the Primes were oddly inexperienced, but wore warframes. Michelle had no warframe, but was far more experienced in using her body and the environment as weapons. She caromed off walls, the floor and her opponents, dodging, striking, moving and retreating, never staying in any place long enough for them to grab her. If they did, the fight was over. But she had the advantage of her odd appendage too. It didn't hurt when she slammed it into the warframes and her foot had stopped hurting after the second time she hit them. Was she healing? Odd that outside of a warframe. She spun in a complicated sequence that tripped the Mag, who stumbled and fouled the Frost, allowing her to get a good shot at the-

"Stand down, Michelle!" Michael's voice came from behind Michelle and she spun, only to pause. The Nekros had his warframe's gauntlet on Jac's throat. "You may be able to kill me, but I will kill her!" The Mag and Frost both froze in place, staring from Michelle to Michael and back.

"You kill a pregnant Tenno and every _single_ Tenno in this _system_ who is _not_ one of your sycophantic _scum_ will hunt you _down_." Michelle said with a snarl, not rising from her combat crouch. The Mag jerked and the Frost actually retreated a step. "If you are _lucky_, your death will only take _days_. It _might_ take _months. _Your quarrel is with _me_. Leave her _out_ of it!" She shouted.

"You don't understand. We have no quarrel. You don't have all the information and we don't have time to give it to you. You leave me no options." Michael said flatly. "Choose, Michelle. Now. Does she live or die?" His hand tightened on Jac's unprotected throat. The Mag stiffened but the Frost stepped forward, a hypo appearing in his hand.

"You bastard." Michelle said slowly, rising and lowering her guard. "You motherless, scum sucking bastard. It wasn't enough to kill my sisters, you have to threaten my friends now too? _Why?_" She screamed. "_Why are you doing this?_"

"Coil the tentacle." Michael said firmly. "Now." He gripped Jac's throat a little tighter.

"Too gutless to do your own dirty work, I see." Michelle said sadly as she did as instructed, coiling her appendage around herself. "Of course, as soon as you have me, you will take her and Amelia too, won't you. Hostages."

"Tenno do not take hostages." The Mag Prime said in a soft, scared voice.

"_Ha!_" Michelle snapped. "You haven't been around _him_ long, have you, you-" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as the Frost injected her. Whatever was in the hypo froze every voluntary muscle in her body. She couldn't move! She went down in a heap and the Frost caught her.

"I have got you, Ma'am." The Frost said in a gentle voice very out of place in such a place. "Easy." He hefted her easily and held her carefully.

"Advisor..." The Mag Prime protested as Michael rose and gathered Jac's still form up in his arms. Michelle felt her eyes burn but couldn't do anything, paralyzed as she was.

"I didn't know she was pregnant." Michael said softly. "We need to check her out for reaction to the sedative." The Mag stared at him, her posture disbelieving. "And she will help us control Michelle until we can explain."

"We can't _take_ her!" The Mag snapped. "You _promised_!"

"_I _didn't promise anything." Michael said, staring down at Amelia's still form, then shaking his head. "Let's go. Take her." He held Jac's still form out to the Mag who flinched away. "Take. Her." He commanded.

"I..." The Mag Prime froze in place and then screamed. "No!" She shouted, backing away from Michael, her arms up in a warding gesture. She was Terrified. "No!" She turned and ran out the open door.

"Petra! What the...?" The Frost said and then he froze in place as the shadows of the room seemed to lengthen. The shadows rose of their own accord and became warframe shapes. "No..." He breathed.

"Run!" Michael snapped. The two male Tenno took to their heels, the shadows seeming to follow. Because of the drug, Michelle couldn't do anything but listen as they passed Cora's still form. She had several darts sticking out of her and Michelle hoped the Grineer was all right.

A massive 'boom' sounded from ahead, followed by a shrill scream that choked off abruptly. The two male Tenno ran around the corner to see Petra down, shaking her head. The Rhino warframe that stood nearby had apparently charged her. There was a dent in the corridor wall where she had been propelled into it. It was...not small. Michelle felt hope soar inside her as Karl turned to scrutinize the ones who were staring at him.

"You are not going anywhere with them, Michael." Karl said softly, his Hek shotgun coming down to firing position, aimed at Petra's head. She froze, staring up into the four barrels. Wise of her.

"Karl..." Michel said slowly. "Damnitall... We are so close..."

"Put Jac and Michelle down, drop your weapons and I _might_ not blow your friend's head off." Karl said in a soft and dangerous voice. "Keep jawing and I _will_."

"Karl..." Michael said, almost desperate. "You don't understand. It is not what you think."

"Well, I _think_ you used some of Nicholas' old codes to access the dojo and deactivate some of our security. Luckily I remembered the old workarounds." Karl said calmly. His foot lashed out and slammed into Petra who was trying to crawl away. "Uh uh... Just lie there, girl." Karl commanded and Petra froze. "Don't move. Don't even breathe hard."

"Karl, this is not what you think." Michael said softly, edging towards the side of the corridor and careful to keep Jac's still form between him and Karl's shotgun. "We need Michelle. No one is dead. Not yet. This doesn't have to escalate."

"Oh, it won't." Karl said, with a dark chuckle. "Go ahead, keep moving."

"You are not alone." Michael said, stiffening in place. The Frost simply waited, Michelle limp in his arms. "Karl, we can help her, stop her infection."

"Is that so?" Karl asked softly. "When none of the other Tenno I have consulted have had a clue... _You_ do. You know... I am kind of curious. How did you trick her on that derelict?" Michel froze in place and Karl laughed again, darker. "Oh come on. The pieces were all there. You followed her there. What do you do? Inseminate her there?" He demanded.

"I didn't!" Michael snapped. "I took genetic samples from each of the girls. I did not impregnate any of them!"

"And their mother?" Karl demanded, then spun his shotgun twitching as the Frost took a step. "Go ahead, boy. Do whatever you are planning. Michelle would prefer a quick death to whatever horrors her father has planned."

"Saun, no! Karl... It's not horror." The Mag Prime said in a dazed voice. "Karl... Please... You don't understand..."

"You three attacked my kin." Karl said softly. "You are taking one of my kin and a guest who is under my protection." Michael took another slow step and Karl snickered. "If you keep moving you are dead. Jac's husband is a bit unhappy with you. She will be a bit upset when she wakes covered in brain matter, but... she will forgive us."

"The sniper..." Michael stilled. "Karl... We have to take Michelle. We have to. She is the culmination. The key."

"The key to _what_?" Karl demanded. "Put Jac down. Now."

"Okay, okay..." Michael said slowly. "Petra..." He laid Jac's still form on the floor and stepped back from her. "Tend her."

The Mag Prime stared up at Karl who didn't move and slowly, so slowly, inched across the floor to where Jac lay. She didn't move to cover behind the still woman. Indeed, she blocked the shotgun's blast pattern! If Karl fired, none of the pellets would hit Jac. Karl looked at her and she spoke quietly.

"We are not your enemies, Tenno Karl. We do not wish to _be_ your enemies." Petra said softly. "But we cannot explain. We are sworn to silence on our duty." Karl cursed softly and Petra nodded. "We mean no insult and none of your people are dead!"

"You attacked us." Karl said quietly.

"We would have been in and out quietly, with perhaps the guard with Michelle alone tranquilized." Petra begged."We hoped one or the other would go to the washroom. We would snatch her there. But they did not. And Sean was seen."

"That does not change the fact that Amelia and Cora are hurt." Karl said calmly. "Jac as well. Michelle is unresponsive so I can only assume you drugged her too. Are you taking her to Grina?"

"No!" Petra and Saun both said in unison. Michael sighed.

"We do not have time for this." Michael said softly then his arms came up.

"Advisor! No!" Petra cried desperately, but it was too late. The hallway filled with shadowy forms. Each tinted with dark orange energy. Grineer, Corpus, Infested, all stood ready to fight. All stood between Karl and his shotgun and the three Tenno with their prisoners.

"Pick her up, Petra." Michael commanded as Karl took a step back, his shotgun tracking as he catalogued threats. Petra was shuddering as she obeyed. "Relax, Karl. The shadows will not attack unless...you-"

Michael stiffened as his shadows suddenly faded and _another_ form in a Nekros warframe appeared out of a cross corridor. This one's color was icy blue as opposed to Michael's black and white.

"I told Michelle that I was going to consult." Karl said absently. "Meet my consultant."

"You..." Michael said softly. Michelle couldn't move with the paralytic agent coursing through her body, but she was amazed. Was the Nekros that she hated..._afraid_? "_You_ are the cause of my dreams... _Crowley_!" The name was an epithet. Four shadowy warframes appeared between newcomer and the trio. All female. All without helmets. All _furious_. Michelle was crying inside. Her sisters! Shades of her _sisters!_

"You're surprised? A caretaker of the dead should know better than to become one of the living damned himself." Crowley's voice came filled with rage so intense it felt like ice rather than a burning flame.

To Michelle's utter amazement, instead of fighting, Michael turned and _ran_. The other two followed, the roar of Karl's shotgun lost in the distance as they fled for their lives. He ran, his partners keeping up despite their burdens. He ran and ran until they reached a wall that sprouted a glowing golden portal.

"The dead will have judgment, you cannot hide from your sins!" Came the voice of the other Nekros again.

Then the Frost Prime carrying Michelle ran into the portal and they were gone.

* * *

**((A BIG thank you to my guest author for letting me borrow his character Crowley. Khimera and I will be cooperating with some of my further posts. I think Michael is in trouble. Don't you?))**


	13. Chapter 13

**Perchance to dream**

The room that the trio entered was brightly lit. Michelle still couldn't move and wept inside as the portal behind them closed, sealing her off from her friends and any chance of rescue. Her eyes burned as well.

"Have you lost your _mind_, Advisor?" Petra snapped. "The whole _idea_ of us sneaking in was to _not_ cause an incident!" She was acting different, Michelle realized. Older, more experienced. Or at least back on firm ground. "That was _not_ the subtle infiltration we agreed to!"

"Crowley is...a very dangerous opponent." Michael said heavily. "He has been haunting my dreams for some time. Ever since Karl's clan went after Michelle."

"And you didn't _bother_ to tell us?" Petra snapped. "Of all the..._Stupid_... harebrained..."

"Captain Petra." The Frost Prime -Saun- spoke softly. "Michelle is crying." Both Primes stared at the woman in the Frost's hands. "We need to get her to healing. Soon."

"Right. Both of them." Petra said with a sigh. "Come, Saun." Michelle was amazed when Michael did not follow.

"Don't release them!" Michael called after them.

"You have caused _enough_ problems today, Advisor." Petra said without slowing. "Go make yourself _useful_. Find a place where we can send this one back." She eased Jac's still form in her hands. "Preferably _without_ causing _another_ incident with Karl's Tenno."

Michelle was amazed. Who was this Petra? Why was she suddenly in charge? Other forms suddenly appeared nearby. Human forms in odd gold uniforms. The uniforms were...familiar, somehow.

"Guard Captain Petra?" One said quickly. Then the woman broke into smile. "You found her! But who is this?"

"We found her, Seneschal." The Mag Prime said softly. "But there were complications. We need the healers for both of them. As soon as possible." Michelle pondered. What was a Seneschal? She dimly remembered the word from somewhere but not what it meant. A steward of some kind? Or something?

"Of course." The burly woman shooed the others away. "You can gawk _later!_ Get back to your duties!"

"But it's the Princ-" One of them started to say excitedly only to have Petra snarl at her. "Ah... Yes, Seneschal, Guard Captain." She darted away, chastened.

"It will be everywhere within the hour." Saun said sourly. "You know how fast the grapevine runs."

"Medical is easily secured." Petra replied softly. "Come on. The sooner we get them both tended by medical professionals, the better I will feel." She shook her head. "'Simple', he said... idiot."

"What was all that about her sisters?" Saun asked as they walked.

"I don't know." Petra said, worried. "And we need to find out. Chirurgeon!" She called as they entered a large, well lit room. "You are needed!"

"You found her!" A joyful voice sounded and a large man stepped into Michelle's field of view. "Oh? Two? What...? On the tables with them!" He commanded.

"She fought us. We had to paralyze her, Chirurgeon." Petra said sadly as Saun laid Michelle down on something hard. "But the other one worries me more. This one is pregnant and Advisor shot her with the sedative you gave us."

"He did _what_?" The man that Michelle could barely see was wearing what looked like an old style apron snapped, irate. "I warned him!" The medical person started puttering nearby. Whirring sounds came. Scanners? "I... Oh, good." He sighed in relief. "Her rhythms are stable. Her child is fine. Thank the Maker!" Two further sighs of relief came from the Primes. "We will filter the sedative, let her sleep naturally as long as she can to recover. And... Ah... Michelle..."

The man's voice was gentle as hands eased her limbs into more comfortable places. Michelle felt her bodysuit vanish. Then cold things were on her in various places. She managed a grunt and the male medic's face appeared in her vision, his eyes kind.

"I apologize, milady." The medic said quietly. "I know the sensors are cold. They will warm quickly. You should regain motive ability shortly. Please do not struggle. The pressor field can hurt you if you struggle. I have administered an antagonist to the paralytic but it may take several minutes to take full effect. Can you speak?" He asked gently.

"What-...?" Michelle managed to croak. "Where am I?"

"You are safe, milady." The medic said with a smile. "Rest easy. No one will harm you here."

"Liar." Michelle said with a growl. "Working with Michael... Liars..." She managed to croak. She tried to move and couldn't.

"What?" The medic asked, confused. "Guard Captain?"

"We don't know." Petra said with a growl. "Apparently Advisor has been doing things on the side, without informing us of his actions."

"Oh, _that_ is going to go over _so_ well with the Empress..." The medic said with a wince. Michelle paused in her fruitless struggles. _Empress? _"I have never liked him."

"I need to report." Petra said calmly. "Saun is detailed to ward Michelle and our...guest."

"'Guest', Captain?" Saun asked carefully.

"I don't _care_ what Advisor said." Petra snapped. "That female did not attack us and he shot her. Trank darts, but still... We are in the wrong here, Guardsman Saun. This whole matter stinks to high heaven and we need to find out what is going on. Chirurgeon, set Michelle up for full scans. We need to fix her arm."

"That will be tricky, Guard Captain." The medic said quietly. "But it is feasible. I will obey."

"Good." Michelle stiffened as the Mag Prime appeared in her vision. "Milady, you have no reason to trust and many reasons not to. But we are not working for Michael. Please, let us help you." Petra begged.

"Work for _Advisor_? Not _hardly!_" The medic snapped. "Wouldn't work for that snake if he were the only royalty _left_!"

"Chirurgeon!" Petra snapped and the man gulped.

"Royalty?" Michelle managed to say that almost normally. "What is going on?" She tried to move, but something invisible held her down. It wasn't hard, but it was immovable. "I... let me go!" She snapped.

"You need healing, milady." The medic said sadly. "Please do not struggle. I will not allow you to harm yourself." Michelle ignored his command and then a golden beam flashed across her face and her body relaxed of it's own accord. As her eyes shut on their own, she saw...an Orokin drone? She felt energy playing over her, warming, soothing.

"Chirurgeon?" Saun asked, worried.

"I don't like taking control from her like this, Guardsman Saun." The one called Chirurgeon replied. "But she will hurt herself. She will fight. It is what you Tenno _do_. Please, milady..." He begged Michelle. "There is no need. We are not your enemies."

Michelle tried to speak, tried to fight, tried to do anything, but a golden haze enveloped her. Her mind fuzzed and she was floating.

"What is _this_?" Chirurgeon asked softly. "This... other mass in her brainwaves. It's totally different even from the Infested waves." He sounded perplexed. "If I didn't know better, I would say there is another mind in hers."

_Oh no..._ Michelle cried to herself. _No... Michelle! No...!_

"Hostile?" Saun asked quickly.

"I don't know." Chirurgeon replied. "I will need to... What?" He cried as Michelle focused her mind. "Milady! Don't!" Something hurt in Michelle's mind but she had to save the girl! She had to...!

* * *

Michelle stumbled as she appeared in the tiny room that the girl from another reality slept in.

"Michelle?" The Tenno said quietly. "You need to wake up now." She gasped as pain started in her head. "It's time to go home." The girl roused at Michelle's words.

"Oh...Comfy..." The girl said yawning hugely. "I..." Her eyes opened, lit on Michelle and she froze. "Ah... Michelle?"

"I know." The Tenno replied. "My arm is a tentacle. I am a mess. I am...in trouble. You have to go back." The girl paled and Michelle hastened to reassure her. "It's okay."

"I... I can't." The girl said, curling up on herself. "I can't go through that _again_!" She started to cry and Michelle reached out with her human hand to touch the girl on the shoulder.

" It's okay. You won't." Michelle promised. "I talked with an Adjucator..." The girl went still and Michelle smiled. "Scary female, but fair. She said she would look into it. She also said you were now the responsibility of her and the Clan Lady." The girl stared up at her, her crying eyes wide. "I don't think your stepmother wants to cross _either_ of those two."

"No one sane does." The girl replied slowly. "I... Truly? The _Clan Lady_? _Halbratina?_"

"I didn't meet _her_." Michelle said with a smile. "But Um... Adjucator Halangrackin was...impressive to say the least." The pain in her head grew and she gasped. "You have to go now!"

Somehow, she was on her knees and the girl was holding her.

"What is happening?" The girl demanded shrilly. "You are bleeding from your nose and ears! Michelle? What is happening?"

"I don't know." Michelle said with a gulp. "I can...send you back. You will need time, rest and care. But they will help you. Halangrackin swore on her name and honor." The girl went still. "That is important?"

"The single most binding oath a dragon can swear." The girl agreed faintly. "I..." She shook her head slowly. "I want to help _you_!"

"You can help me by going home and getting better." Michelle said quickly. "And... if you ever play a Saryn in that game again... be careful with her? Please?" She begged playfully. "It might be me."

"I will." The girl said quietly, an oath. She reached up and kissed Michelle's cheek. "Thank you. I owe you. If I can find a way to pay my debts, I will." Michelle smiled and keyed her mind. The girl's form wavered and vanished.

Michelle slumped a bit, then relaxed. The pain hit her harder, coming in waves of such speed and power that she could only writhe on the floor of the mental construct and scream. Then, it stopped.

"By the Maker!." An utterly impossible voice sounded nearby. "Michelle!" Warm arms picked her up and held her gently. "What have you done to yourself?"

"M...Mom...?" Michelle forced her eyes open, they were gummed by something sticky and stiffened. Her mother held her gently in her lap. But it wasn't her mother.

The woman who was sitting on the couch that the girl's mind had been slumbering on wore her mother's face, had her mother's long dark hair, but the attire was not Tenno. Instead of a gray bodysuit, this woman wore a gold dress of some odd material that clung in places and flowed in others. Her face was serene, a far cry from the stern matriarch that Michelle had known in her youth. But it was what was on the woman's head that had Michelle stiffening. A crown. And not just _any_ crown! It was small, and almost hidden by Eliza's hair, but it was distinctive. It was also _glowing_ with golden light.

"Why are you wearing the Crown of Orokin, Mom?" Michelle managed to gasp out.

The Crown of Orokin had been the symbol of the royal house. Of the constitutional monarchy that had ruled Orokin for millennia. Or so Michelle thought. It was all...fuzzy. Everything was fuzzy. She remembered hearing the Crown had been lost in the Collapse. Hadn't it?

"That is a long story, Michelle." Eliza said sadly. "You need to go back. Chirurgeon is almost done with your arm. You will need therapy to regain strength with it, but it should heal with no impairment."

"Can't." Michelle said sadly. "Prisoner. Can't...give...up..."

"What? You are not a prisoner! I don't know what the idiot Michael told you. I don't know what he did." Eliza said softly. "I swear to you, I will have it out of him. By inches if I have to. But you have to go back. Why did you come here?" Something nudged Michelle's mind, a gentle compulsion. She could have resisted, but what was the point? The other was gone.

"A mind was sleeping inside mine." Michelle said sadly. "An innocent girl. She was..hurt. This was...safe place..."

"A safe place to rest and heal. I see. And then Chirurgeon started investigating." Eliza said with a frown. "And you acted to protect the one you were guarding." Michelle nodded a bit jerkily and Eliza sighed. "Typical Tenno. So brave and so _clueless_. Michelle, if you had _said_ something, -anything- he wouldn't have been so bent on finding the oddities in your mind! It wouldn't have hurt you _nearly_ so badly. Scared me so much."

"My responsibility." Michelle slurred. The world was fading. Or she was. "No..." She pleaded. "Don't..."

"It's okay, Michelle." Eliza said sadly. "You can rest now. I have got you, daughter." Golden energy played over Michelle and...

* * *

Michelle coughed on a scream as she came awake. But... Nothing hurt now. A familiar hand was on her forehead and it stroked her short hair gently. She calmed, almost against her will. The feeling was...so familiar. So comforting. She looked up and froze. The vision was the same as had been in her mind. Same gown. Same crown.

"Easy." Her mother said quietly. "Easy, Michelle. It's okay. You are okay. Chirurgeon?"

"Her waves are stabilizing, Ma'am." Chirurgeon replied with respect. "She is...much better. Whatever you did worked. The damage is minimal and being repaired as we speak."

"The other?" Eliza said sternly.

"Resting comfortably, Ma'am." Chirurgeon replied calmly. "She and her baby are both fine. She _may_ be developing the beginnings of a respiratory infection, but if so, it is mild. We will monitor."

"Thank the Maker." Eliza said heavily. "Do so. And keep me posted. The guards will remain. As Michelle told Petra, if we kill a _pregnant_ Tenno, hell itself will find us. That is the _last_ thing we need. That idiot Michael messed _everything_ up. If we didn't need him so badly..."

"Ma'am, I just heal people." Chirurgeon replied. "But... could he be playing his own game?"

"Almost certainly, Chirurgeon." Eliza's voice turned sour. "He is almost certainly playing his own game. I thought I could trust him and look where_ I _wound up."

"You have done well, Empress Eliza." Chirurgeon said quickly. "And that is not flattery, that is the _truth_."

"I like to think so." Eliza stroked Michelle's hair again. Michelle for her part was reeling. She barely noticed a tube coming out of her mouth. Wires on her scalp. An odd visor over her eyes. She was so confused. _Empress?_ "How soon can they be moved?"

"They are stable. I would like to keep the other overnight if possible, Ma'am." Chirurgeon replied slowly. "I don't like the idea of a pregnant woman with a respiratory infection. There may be cross contamination issues as well even though the portal is supposed to handle such things automatically."

"I don't like it either... But... She will believe, as Michelle does, that she is a prisoner, Chirurgeon." Eliza said quietly. "She will react as Tenno _do_. She will try to escape or suicide. Either way, we lose. We have to prove to _both_ that they are not prisoners."

"How can we do _that_?" Chirurgeon asked carefully. "Ah, Your Imperial Majesty?" He said respectfully when Petra coughed.

"With the truth." Eliza said sadly. "A commodity in extremely short supply these days. Captain Petra!" She snapped.

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty?" Petra's voice came from nearby.

"You and Guardsman Saun have had the most experience with her." Eliza said sternly. "You are both detailed as _Michelle's_ guards. We will move her and her friend into disused chambers of the Royal Quarters. Check with the Guard Commander to set what you need. I want her and the other protected at _all_ times. I want medical support on standby just in case at all times as well. Clear?"

"At once, Your Imperial Majesty!" Petra said with respect.

"There is something going on we know nothing about." Eliza said with a snarl. "Until we know _what_ is happening and _why..._ She is not to be left alone for _any_ reason. Clear?"

Michelle started to struggle. None of this made any sense. Her mother? Wearing a crown? Giving orders? This was... she was insane. She had to be insane.

"Michelle..." Eliza's face came into her field of view again. Her mother's eyes held worry. The hand was back on her forehead, soothing, calming. "Easy... it's okay. You are okay. You and your friend..." She paused. "What is her name, Captain Petra?"

"The others called her 'Jac', Your Imperial Majesty." Petra replied evenly.

"Thank you, Captain." Eliza said with a smile that faded. "Michelle, you and Jac are safe and will remain that way. Your trust has been abused and I don't know why. I need to find out. Until I do, you may be in danger." Michelle stilled and Eliza nodded. "I can't make up to all of the years, centuries... that I have been gone. But I _can_ help you now. Please... Please let me?" She begged. Naked entreaty shone in the woman's eyes. Either she was the best liar Michelle had ever seen -possible- or...

Michelle took a deep breath through the tube in her mouth and forced herself to relax. She didn't know what was going on, but she was in no position to fight. Eliza smiled a bit at her.

"I know you don't trust us and I don't blame you." Eliza said with a sigh. "But... as a token of our good will... Chirurgeon?"

The bed angled up a bit. Michelle squirmed under whatever was holding her. Her mother guided her head to look at her... Michelle's eyes went wide as she stared down at the long oblong golden thing that had replaced her tentacle. It opened as she stared at it and a human arm was visible. _Her_ _arm_! The fingers on the hand moved when she willed them to. She felt her world start turning in circles.

"We haven't been idle here in our exile, Princess." Chirurgeon said with a smile from where he stood. "Sleep now. Rest and dream of peace and light." Golden light bathed her again and she was falling.

_Princess...? _Michelle took that utterly impossible thought into slumber with her.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Princess of Orokin**

Michelle woke to dim light and was immediately still. She was lying on a large bed. She wasn't bound and... She stiffened further as she stared down at her right...arm. It was the same flesh as her left. The tentacle as gone as if it had never been. She touched it with her left hand. It felt like flesh and she could feel it under her fingers and her finger's contact on the skin. Then she touched the sleeve, staring at her garment. She was wearing a golden gown. It was thin, but warm.

"This isn't real..." Michelle said softly. "This can't be real..."

"It's real, Your Imperial Highness." A familiar voice sounded from nearby. The Mag Prime called Petra stood nearby, her stance vigilant. The golden Lato pistol at her side and golden Orthos slashing spear at her back gleamed in the dim light. "Good morning." The Tenno said calmly. "I will get the lights." She hit a control and the room suddenly was brighter. "How do you feel?"

"Where am I?" Michelle demanded, looking around.

The room she was in was large, but not ostentatious. The furniture was well built. And... She stared. It was all Orokin designs. Not the derelict Orokin she had seen so often, or the dusty, empty places that she had ventured into in the Void with other Tenno. But fresh. The sheets on the bed still had wrinkles! New. Clean! _Orokin!_ This wasn't _possible_!

"These are the Royal Quarters, Your Imperial Highness." Petra replied evenly. "Your mother is three doors down the hall."

"This is a virtual world! It has to be." Michelle said with snap. "Who _are_ you and _why_ am I here?"

"This is not a virtual world, Your Imperial Highness." Petra said calmly. "Although I do not blame you for doubting." She nodded as Michelle stared wildly around. "My name is Petra, my rank is Captain and I have been detailed as your chief guard until and unless you choose someone else."

"My jailor?" Michelle demanded.

"No, Your Imperial Highness. I am your _guard_. You are not a prisoner." Petra said calmly. "If you wish to go, you may." Michelle stared at her as Petra raised a hand. "But... please... At least hear your mother out before you choose anything?" The guard begged.

"You would just _let_ me go?" Michelle asked dubiously. "Just like that? After all this?"

"Well, we would want to be sure wherever you go is _safe_." Petra said with a sigh. "Or as safe as Tenno can get. But... yes." She said mildly. "You are not a prisoner, Your Imperial Highness."

"Why do you keep _calling_ me that?" Michelle asked, still staring about, stunned. The art on the walls was exquisite. Everything about the room spoke of power, but... It wasn't ostentatious as odd as that sounded. It was nearly plain. The bed, a desk, a chair and a dresser. Nothing else.

"It is the proper honorific. Your mother is the Empress of Orokin." Petra said evenly. "That makes _you_ a Princess of Orokin. The honorific is 'Your Imperial Highness'."

"My...mother... an _Empress_?" Michelle felt her world go into a tailspin. She fought the urge to giggle maniacally. It wouldn't help. "No. No! I am insane. This is _not_ happening!"

"I don't doubt that you are confused, Your Imperial Highness." Petra said calmly. "But you are not insane. We can prove it and we will. If you let us."

"I..." Michelle shook her head. "This is... wait...! Jac!" She jerked, sliding her feet from the bed. "Where is Jac?" Petra nodded.

"She is in the next room." Petra said softly. "I..." She paused as Michelle turned to her. "Does Your Imperial Highness wish to see her?"

"I am not a princess." Michelle said, her tone dangerous. "Stop calling me that." Petra sighed.

"My orders are clear, Your Imperial Highness." The guard said stolidly. "Until and unless the Empress herself countermands them -since my orders came from her- I have no choice but to address you as a Princess of Orokin."

"Gah! Okay, Can you at least just call me 'Princess Michelle' or something? It's less of a mouthful!" Michelle said with a snarl. Petra thought about that for a moment, then nodded. Michelle sighed in relief, but then snarled again. "Princess! _I_ am not insane, _you_ are insane. My _mother_? Maybe she didn't die all those centuries ago, but she is not an Empress! And certainly not the Empress of Orokin. Orokin is _gone_!"

"Not yet." The guard said quietly. "And not _ever_ if we have anything to say about it, Princess Michelle."

"Gah!" Michelle snarled a she rose, then tottered a bit. She felt dizzy.

"Are you all right, Princess Michelle?" Petra asked, stepping close.

"Dizzy." Michelle said weakly and did not resist as Petra took her left arm in a gentle grip and set her back on the bed. "What is happening to me?"

"The repairs to your body took their toll, Princess Michelle." Petra said quietly, holding Michelle upright while the Tenno regained her equilibrium. "You will be okay, given time, rest and exercise. But you will be weak for a time. Or so Chirurgeon tells me." Petra said quietly.

"My...arm..." Michelle lifted her right arm and scrutinized it. "How? Technocyte infection cannot be cured."

"I don't know, Princess Michelle." Petra said quietly. "I am Tenno, not a healer."

"Then... as a Tenno, on your honor _as_ Tenno... Where I am?" Michelle asked.

"I can do better than tell you, Princess Michelle." Petra said with a smile in her voice. "I can show you. Window." She commanded.

Michelle went stiff as one entire wall of the room suddenly turned transparent. She stared out at... fury. The sheer power of a star was visible at close range. It was easy to see. From the view, they couldn't have been more than a hundred kilometers from the surface of...the Sun. Whatever was protecting the room she was in must have been seriously powerful. The radiation alone at this range would fry even a warframe, let alone a woman in a gown. Just looking at it unprotected should have fried her to a crisp. But she didn't even feel warm and she wasn't blinded. Powerful shields indeed. The view was... spectacular.

"Holy crap... The.. I..." Michelle stammered. "The Sun?"

"Welcome to Avalon, Princess Michelle." Petra said kindly. "I for one am _very_ glad you are here."

"Avalon?" Michelle gasped. "But..."

Avalon had been the secret retreat of the Orokin Emperors. A hideaway from the universe. It's existence had been known, it's location had never been discovered as far as Michelle knew. Stories had abounded about the secret facility. Everything from secret laboratories filled with Frankenstein monsters to drunken orgies in the halls and _everything_ in between.

Petra looked at her and nodded. "Window close." She said quietly and the window vanished and a wall took its place. "It is beautiful, Princess Michelle. But deadly."

"I don't understand." Michelle said weakly. "I mean... Avalon?"

"Yes, Princess Michelle. Avalon. We are hidden within the stellar corona." Petra said calmly. "The only way in or out is via portal. Any ship trying to approach will fry long before they reach sensor range, let alone anything smaller than a ship. The corona is thousands of kilometers wide and all the way around the Sun. Even if they knew generally where we were..." She shrugged and Michelle nodded.

The corona's temperature averaged a million degrees. Any projectiles would burn up long before reaching something buried in the corona. Energy weapons? Ha! The inconceivable amount of background radiation would scramble any coherent beams in milliseconds.

"I...see." Michelle said weakly. "Can I see Jac now?" She asked plaintively.

"Of course." Petra held out a hand and Michelle took it to rise. "If you feel bad, tell me. My duty is to you, Princess Michelle." She made sure Michelle was steady on her feet them retreated a step.

"To... me...?" Michelle swallowed hard. "I..." She shook herself. "I wish to see my friend."

"This way." Petra said with a nod, leading Michelle towards a door that opened as they approached it. On the other side was room exactly lie Michelle's with the sole exception that Jac sat on the bed, eating from a tray.

Michelle felt her heart leap as she saw Jac look up and smile. The other Tenno wore a gown similar to Michelle's and her face was radiant. But it was the _other_ female in the room who stole most of Michelle's attention. Eliza sat in the chair by the desk, and her smile was wide as she turned to look as well.

"Michelle!" Jac said with a grin. "You finally woke up!"

"I..." Michelle swallowed. "Jac? You okay?"

"I've been better." Jac admitted. "But the hospitality here is first rate. Have you had breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" Michelle cursed the disbelieving squeak that entered her voice, but shook her head. "No. I just woke up."

"Then come on, sit down. Eat." Jac demanded. "You look pale."

"I am very confused." Michelle admitted as she moved to the bed and sat on the edge.

"Understandable." Eliza said with a small frown. "I will make some food for you."

"Since when does an _Empress_ make food?" Michelle asked as she situated herself. "I mean..." She broke off as Eliza chuckled.

"Don't get me wrong..." Eliza said with a small smile. "Ordinarily, I would just snap my fingers and people would jump. But... it gets old. Sit down and I will get your breakfast for you." Michelle frankly stared as her mother rose and walked to the side where a small food preparation area appeared against the wall. She started working. "I need to remember where I came from. And I like to cook." The Empress said with a grin.

Michelle shook her head and stared from her mother to Petra, who chuckled.

"We keep trying to get her to accept our deference, our service." Petra said with a shrug. "Doesn't work very well sometimes."

"You have your job, Captain Petra..." Eliza said mildly. "I have mine. In public I have to be stern and uncompromising. A true Empress. In private, I can be myself." She quickly had a tray in hand and walked with it back to where Michelle sat, bemused by all this. She set it in front of Michelle with another smile and sat back down at the desk. "Go on, eat." She said quietly. "You will need to recoup your strength. The regeneration of your arm used a lot of your body's energy reserves. I have been talking to Jac here. We have a lot to talk about."

Michelle looked at Jac who nodded a little. She smiled a bit and dug into the huge stack of pancakes. They let her eat. Only when she was done with the pancakes and sipping her juice did Jac speak up.

"How are you doing, Michelle?" Jac asked quietly. "This was enough of a shock to _me_ and I am not..." She broke off as Michelle grimaced.

"Frankly? I am really finding it hard to believe." Michelle said slowly, choosing her words with care. "_Avalon_?" She said, staring around. Eliza nodded.

"The last refuge of the Orokin Emperors." Eliza said with a sigh. "I woke up here, after the Collapse. Everything we knew and loved was gone. The few datafeeds we had access to showed little but rubble." Her gaze turned hard. "Michelle? What did Michael do?"

"I..." Michelle swallowed hard and then spoke softly. "I don't know for sure. I know that Sina, Coriana, Nisa, Oria... They died. I... felt them die." She felt Jac's hand come to take hers. Her right hand, the one that had been a tentacle tip. It gave a squeeze and then lay on her arm. Offering support.

"I figured. You were always linked." Eliza said with a sigh. "I... I knew that almost from the moment you were born. When one was unhappy, all of you were. When one of you hurt yourself, all of you cried. I...didn't handle it well." She said, her face crestfallen. "I am sorry."

"It's not _your_ fault!" Michelle said quickly.

"Ah, but it is, Michelle." Eliza said quietly. "You see... I didn't like my family. They were...decadent. Slothful. Lazy. Good diplomats, to be sure, but..." She shook her head. "I always preferred dealing with Tenno. You all are _uncomplicated_." She said with a grin. Jac and Michelle looked at each other and nodded slowly. "I never told you or your siblings that I was the youngest daughter of the Emperor. It wasn't important to me. I had _fourteen_ siblings!"

"So... When the Collapse hit..." Michelle said slowly.

"I was found by a squad of the Royal Guard. I was badly hurt." Eliza said, nodding to Petra who remained at her post by the door. "They brought me here. I was the only survivor of the Royal Family. But if there is one thing that the descendants of Talia the First know... it is duty. I took the crown and..." She slumped.

"I see..." Michelle said slowly.

"We looked for you." Eliza said, her face stricken. "We looked for all of you. We couldn't find any evidence of _any_ survivors but us for _hundreds_ of years! We all took turns in cryo, but..."

"We were...scattered." Michelle said, her meal ashes in her stomach. "All of us." Jac nodded, her hand still on Michelle's arm. "With the war over, we had no purpose. Nothing left to protect. Some disappeared completely, suicided or lost, we don't know. Some went into cryo. All five of...us went into cryo."

"I see." Eliza said softly. "And then the Lotus woke you when the Grineer started their reign of terror." It wasn't a question, but Michelle nodded anyway. "When did you realize something was wrong?"

"What we do isn't safe...mother." Michelle said with a sigh. "But Sina died first. She was on one of their massive Fomorian ships. Many of us were sent to destroy the reactors."

"We had wondered why the Lotus sent Tenno to aid the Corpus." Eliza said with a nod. "'The enemy of my enemy' and all that is one thing, but..." She shrugged.

"The way she said it, we couldn't let either side gain too clear an advantage or their war would spread even further than it has." Michelle said quietly. Jac nodded soberly. "I didn't enjoy it, helping the religious fanatics. But it was needed, so we did it."

"_That_ I can understand." Eliza said with a grimace. "I have had to work with people I despise to get things done here. And then?" She pressed gently.

"I was on my ship." Michelle said softly. "I felt Sina's fear. Her pain. I was too far away...on the other side of the system." She said, starting to cry. "I could see through her eyes. Her team was fighting, but they were being overwhelmed. They had to retreat, leave her. I... I stayed with her until... until she was gone... It was all I could _do_."

"Oh Michelle..." Eliza rose from the chair and walked to the bed to sit beside Michelle. "Oh my dear girl." She said, putting her arm around her daughter. Michelle gave a small cry and buried her face in Eliza's shoulder. "And Michael?"

"The last thing Sina saw...before she died... was him with his hand up, energy coming from her body into his hand." Michelle said into her mom's shoulder. "All the others... They... I..."

Eliza looked up at Captain Petra who nodded.

"He said he was collecting genetic samples, Empress." Petra said slowly. "At least, that is what he told Karl when the Tenno ambushed us on our way out. But... Michelle said something about... Impregnation." The captain said with a gulp.

"Impregnation." Eliza said with a scowl, holding Michelle as she sobbed. "I never should have trusted him. He was so suave, so cool, always with a word. Always with an alibi. I know he cheated on me, but.. I _did_ love him."

"What did you see in him?" Michelle asked, dashing her tears away as she leaned back. Jac's hand remained.

"I was young and foolish." Eliza said heavily. "He was dark and mysterious. Dangerous. And I was drawn to that. He was...kind... at first." She sighed. "Was it a ruse to gain my trust? I don't know."

"He left..." Michelle said softly. "I was...we were...ten?"

"Yeah." Eliza said quietly. "You were ten. He had been gone for long periods before that. But then he came back and told me he was leaving...We fought. He left." She shook her head. "I didn't see him again until I woke up here. After the Collapse."

"We all thought you were dead." Michelle said slowly. "The whole area where you lived was an irradiated wasteland." She hugged Eliza again.

"I know." Michelle's mother said sadly. "I am sorry, Michelle. I know you quarreled with your sisters a lot. But seeing each of them die... Feeling it... I can't imagine what you went through. All I can do is help now. And I _will_."

"How?" Michelle asked slowly.

"We need to know what Michael did." Eliza said with a wince. "Unfortunately, the only witnesses..." She trailed of as Michelle inhaled sharply.

"...are dead." Michelle said with a gulp. "And I refuse to let...that man...touch me."

"Can't say I blame you." Eliza said calmly. "Petra..." She said quietly. No, this wasn't Michelle's mom talking, this was the Empress of Orokin. "Executive order. If Michael comes anywhere _near_ Michelle, the Royal Guard are ordered to use any and _all_ necessary force to keep him _away_ from her." Petra gulped and Eliza smiled evilly. "You would anyway. And I don't blame you. But this gives you some legal cover. Tenno Jac..." She turned to Jac who froze. "You have been abused. Your aid to my daughter nearly cost you more than any mother should ever have to bear. We pay our debts. But now we must ask you for something more."

"What do you need, um... Empress Eliza?" Jac asked after a moment.

"The entire current Empire of Orokin resides within this station, Tenno Jac. Less than five thousand of us in total." Eliza said with a nod. "It pains me to say it, but we need help. Will you go to your clan leader for us? Our shaman has proven untrustworthy and we need answers."

"Michelle?" Jac asked slowly.

"They won't hurt me, Jac." Michelle said softly. "Unless I miss my guess... They can't."

"No." Eliza said kindly. "You are the next in line for the throne."


	15. Chapter 15

**Sisters**

This was...

After Eiiza's bombshell, Michelle had gone back to her room, her mind awhirl. Tenno did not lead. She would have to leave the Tenno. Just the thought made her physically ill. But...she was needed. Petra had assisted her, the Tenno's steps had been faltering from fatigue. She had lay down for just a moment. Her mom and Petra had a full day planned for her. A visit to the healer, a visit to the facility tailor, various and sundry other things. But now...

Michelle was dreaming. She knew she was. This place...didn't exist anymore. She was lying on a grassy surface, staring up at the branches of a single tree. There had been a park near her home. She and her sisters had gone to that park many times during Michelle's childhood. Later she had found out that those parks were everywhere in Orokin, a small clearing, a single tree. All carefully maintained. Something about the founding of the Empire? She wasn't sure. She was...

"You going to lie there all _day_?" A familiar acerbic voice sounded nearby.

Michelle stiffened and then turned to see her sister Sina sitting cross legged on the grass beside her. Her sister wore the Banshee warframe that she had preferred in life, but no helmet and her dark hair was long and full. She had always been proud of that hair, taking great pains to keep it secured under her helmet. Michelle noted that Sina did look more like their mother than Michelle did.

"Great." Michelle said with a sigh. "All this and I dream of _you_. Sina. Wonderful."

"I missed you too, sis." Sina replied sarcastically. "Not."

"Don't start." Michelle said sourly. "I am not in the mood. This is a dream. Or a nightmare. Or I am just going mad finally."

"How about none of the above?" Sina said with grimace. "You never _did_ see the truth even when it was slapping you in the face."

"Your preferred means of gaining attention and entertainment." Michelle agreed calmly. "When are you going to start hitting me _this_ time? Hmmm?" She asked, tensing.

"If you actually _listen_ for once, I won't have to." Sina replied sourly. "You are in trouble."

"Well, duh." Michelle snapped. "I see dying hasn't improved your disposition _or_ intellect."

"Don't start." Sina snapped. "I am eldest."

"You were eldest by _three_ minutes." Michelle replied, lying back and closing her eyes. "That does _not_ give you the right to boss everyone around no matter _what_ you may think."

"Michelle, calm down." Another voice sounded. Michelle didn't have to look to know that Oria had joined them, somehow. She cracked her eyes for a moment and yes, her second sister wore an Ember warframe without helmet. She closed her eyes again as Oria sighed and spoke. "Sina is trying to help. Even if her methods are...less than refined than usual. Even for her."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sina snapped.

"It means what I said, Sina." Oria said calmly. "You are being a bitch. Nothing new there." Michelle winced at that. Oria's compulsive honesty...hurt.

"You take that back!" Sina snapped.

"Why should she? Can't handle the truth?" Another voice relied sarcastically. Michelle swallowed as Coriana's voice sounded. "You always tried to run our lives when we were alive. Why stop now that we are dead?"

If this followed the pattern, Coriana wore her Mag warframe without a helmet. Michelle just sighed and kept her eyes closed. She knew what was coming. She had always been the quiet one, and the others had run roughshod over her until they had all had gone into training and the masters had separated them. Separated them widely.

"Don't ignore me!" Sina snapped at Michelle. "Don't you dare!" A sultry laugh had everything stop for a moment.

"Well, well, well..." Nisa's voice -as always- promised pain and pleasure in equal measure. "The gang's all here." Odd that a Trinity acted like a dominatrix, but then again... Michelle's family _defined_ odd. "Good thing I brought a whip." Something cracked in the air near Michelle, but she remained still. "Poo..." Nisa said with a pout in her voice. "Always made you jump before."

"I watched you die, Nisa." Michelle said with a minute quaver in her voice. "I... I don't want to fight today. Wherever, whenever this is. Please..." She begged. Wrong thing to say, she realized as soon as the words left her mouth.

"Don't you _dare_ start whining, you brat!" Sina snapped. "You have work to do! Get up and do it!"

"Sina, back off." Oria said slowly. "You are not helping."

"And _you_ can help, Miss 'My Head Is So Far Up My Butt I Can Smell My Farts'?" Sina snapped.

"Maybe I can, maybe I can't." Oria said calmly. "But your aggressiveness is _not_ helping. Back off."

"Please...Don't..." Michelle said softly. But it was too late. The sound of an open palm meeting flesh was loud. Sina's usual method of 'encouragement'. Slap someone across the face. She froze as a hand found hers.

"Let them get it out of their systems, Michelle." Nisa's voice came from close by, quiet and gentle. Totally wrong for her. Michelle looked up to see her sister's eyes glistening. "It was hell of a shock to all of us. More to you." She said, kneeling beside Michelle as Sina, Coriana and Oria slammed into each other, fists flying. Nisa's hand came down and caressed Michelle's arm and then...traced elsewhere.

"Please don't." Michelle begged Nisa who paused, stared at her hand and had the grace to look embarrassed as she snatched it away.

"I am sorry, Michelle." Nisa said quietly. "I... I didn't mean that. I... We all deal with our pasts in different ways. Sina gets rude and physical. Oria gets painfully honest. Coriana gets confrontational. You go all quiet and careful. And me... I get lewd." She shook her head. "I... I didn't mean anything..."

"I know." Michelle said sadly. "I always knew you didn't mean it. But... I watched the Chargers tear you apart, Nisa! I _felt_ their claws on you. In you. I felt you fall... I... I am sorry..."

"It's not your fault, Michelle." Nisa said gently. "It was a solo op. I was...fuddled by what Michael did to me. I shouldn't have gone in, but we needed the mission done and I was the closest."

"What did he do?" Michelle asked, dreading the answer.

"I don't know for sure." Nisa said softly. "Everything was...off. Like a bad hangover. Should have cleared up when I put on my warframe, but it didn't. I didn't know who he was. He was at a bar. I find -found- a lot of dates in bars. Sometimes we talked, sometimes...more. My...proclivities were separate. He was nice. We talked, then we did more." She sighed. "Some great judge of character, huh?"

"Not your fault, Nisa." Michelle glanced at the fight, but it was still going. Oria and Coriana had Sina in a wrestling hold. They fighting for all they were worth and Sina was playing with them. Typical. "He fooled everyone. Even mom."

"Mom..." Nisa said slowly. "How you handling being a princess?" She asked with a grin.

"I am not going to ask how you know about that." Michelle said slowly. "But... to answer your question... Not well. I wonder when I am going to wake up in a straitjacket again."

"Michelle, you are not crazy." Nisa said quietly. "Anyone who went through what you did has the right to be...off. But you aren't. You didn't go crazy. You have done crazy _things_. But you are _not_ crazy."

"I confused the Infested." Michelle admitted in a small voice. "Their over-intelligence wanted to know why I did what I did. Hell, _I_ don't know for sure why I did what I did. I knew he was following me. But I had no idea _why_. I saw through each of your eyes, I saw him do something, pull something out of you as you died."

"I was so far gone I didn't see anything." Nisa admitted. Michelle stiffened, but Nisa smiled. "I am not doubting you. I...saw the same thing with the others. I felt Sina die and then Coriana. I distracted myself so I wouldn't feel it. And..." She swallowed heavily.

"Then you." Michelle said, biting back a sob. "Then Oria. I couldn't do anything but _watch!_" She sobbed and Nisa pulled her up into an embrace. "Every time I tried to get close, I was too late!"

"It's okay, Michelle." Nisa said kindly. "It's okay."

"Aw, look at that..." Sina's voice came from behind them. "Lovebirds." Michelle looked to see Sina sitting on top of Coriana and Oria who were both groaning. Stood to reason, Sina had always been the strongest and best at hand to hand.

"Sina." Nisa said slowly. "Don't. Not now. Just... don't." She warned.

"What are you gonna do to me, Little Miss Domme? Hmmm?" Sina asked sourly. "Gonna whip _me_?" She froze as Michelle screamed.

"**_Stop!_**" Michelle shouted at the top of her lungs. "_I watched you __**die!**__ I __**felt**__ you __**die**__!__** All**__ of you!_" She recoiled away from Nisa who tried to grab her and slammed back into the tree when she sat, gripping her knees tight. Crying. "I went into that hive. I don't know why, but I can guess. I knew Michael was coming for me. If I was hallucinating, and I was pretty sure I was... -Corpus crewman don't _beg_ for death in _our_ language- ...then he was close. I couldn't let him win. Not after what he did to all of you. I tried to die and all I can think of a reason to do it was to be rid of _you!_ I hate you! _All of you!_ You made my life _hell!_ All of you! Get away!" She jerked away when Nisa tried to touch her and Nisa retreated a bit. "All I could think was that I would _finally_ be free of you all. I would stop seeing your faces in my _dreams_. And what do I _get_? You _haunting_ me! I..." Her voice cracked. "You know _nothing_ of strength, Sina. _Nothing_!"

"Well, well, well..." Sina said, marvel in her voice. "Little Miss Fraidy Cat finally grew claws."

"_Shut up, Sina!_" Nisa snarled, rising and swinging before Sina could react. Nisa had always been quick. "You will doom us _all_!" Sina went flying, but rolled and charged Nisa who met her, blow for blow. Nisa had always been a match for the more confrontational sister, her speed matching Sina's strength.

"Ladies, now is not the time to bicker." Stepping forward seemingly out of nothingness was Crowley, clad in icy blue as before only now he wore the Mortos Syandana as a further note to his station. As he strode forward with confidence he drew one hand from behind his back to stop a blow that was to be made by Nisa; the other blocking one from Sina with almost _too_ much ease. "It is a pleasure to have you all gathered, but if you are to have justice then you must put aside your differences. I cannot pass judgment upon Michael as things are: I require all victims to be joined in cause to carry out the punishment he deserves." Letting his hands drop away Crowley stepped forward until he was in the middle of the five sisters and turned to face Michelle. The cold blue of his energy shifted to a frightening red which only made his Raknis helmet appear more sinister than its initial design let on. "He will suffer, forsaken children of the royal line, and if I have my way he will never know death as a release; only as a thing to beg for." Crowley spoke loud and clear, his voice tinged with the rage he kept inside just barely checked by his desire to see things through and that justice would be served.

Michelle barely reacted as the blue Nekros appeared and stopped the fight. She barely recognized that it wasn't Michael. She was so lost in her own misery that she barely noticed when the shades of her sisters withdrew. She huddled in on herself, crying hard.

Going down on one knee Crowley reached out and gently brushed his fingers over Michelle's face. "Hush, child, you are safe here. I am not the monster you know, and I can -and will- prove this to you." Reaching up to his helmet Crowley hesitated and moved back to grant some breathing room. He knew his current visage was not helping much.

"Please kill me." Michelle begged. "I can't do this anymore. I... I am not _Sina_. I am not strong. I am not _Nisa_. I am not bold. I am not _Oria_ or _Coriana_. I am not smart... I am just _me_... I was never good enough." She sobbed. "I am just the _middle sister_!"

"Wha-?" Sina said sharply only to have all three of her sisters grab her. Nisa held her arms while Coriana held her feet and Oria clamped an iron hand over her mouth. Wonder of wonders, she didn't struggle. She stared at Michelle as if she had never seen her sister before.

"I am insane." Michelle said sadly. "I broke, so many times. So many horrible things... Before the Collapse, during and after... I forgot so much, but I remembered too much. They had to be done, so we did them. But... I..." She huddled upon herself, a ball of misery. "I can't go through the rest of my life with my sisters fighting around me. I spent the first years of my life that way. I can't do this. I _can't_..."

"We have all done terrible things...I know this more than any of you sisters could understand." There was a short pause as Crowley reached back up to his helmet, slowly removing it and setting it down before Michelle in a gesture of peace. The face behind such an intimidating figure was surprisingly fair, yet pale as death with eyes cold and blue as comets frozen in place. Long black hair was a stark contrast to this, but the beginnings of grayness were apparent in places. "You _can_ do this Michelle, you are the only one who can now. You are not alone and more than ever you are needed by those around you."

"But I can't!" Michelle begged. "I am _not_ strong enough!"

Smiling softly, Crowley reached out and gently tilted Michelle's head up so she could look at him and her sisters. "You can. I promise you Michelle that you can, and in your endeavors you are _not _alone." Standing up, taking his helmet into his hands, Crowley looked back at the four sisters that now formed a half-circle behind him with a waiting gaze.

"Michelle?" Nisa's voice was soft now. "You know who I always admired the most? Who I always wanted to be like?" Michelle shook her head silently. "My sister. The quiet one who never got into our brawls unless we dragged her in. Who always had a word of encouragement for any of us who faltered. Even Sina." Michelle shook her head and Nisa sighed. "I was never quiet. I was always loud. But if there is anything I regret from my life, it was pushing you away to find pleasure in the arms of others." Now Nisa was crying softly. "You were always there for us."

"You sent me a message when Sina died." Coriana said slowly. "I didn't take time to read it...before I went out on my last mission. Michelle. You tried to warn me, didn't you?"

"Nobody ever hears me..." Michelle sobbed. "Always walking alone... even in a crowd of Tenno... I am alone."

"No, you are not." Oria said slowly. "I didn't believe you. Michael had... he was there and we laughed off your warning. He slipped me something and I was blurry the next day. Maybe I could have taken the Stalker if I had been clearheaded, maybe not. I don't know. I blew off your warning and I paid the price. It is not your fault, Michelle."

"_Yes it is!_" Michelle screamed. "It's always my fault. Even when it is not, _it is_. I am always to blame! When Sina broke mom's three hundred year old desk, it was my fault. When Coriana ditched classes to play hoverball, it was my fault. When Oria ran off to the library and didn't come out of the Archives for three _days_, it was my fault. When Nisa slept with the _entire_ school football team, it was my fault."

Raising his thin eyebrows Crowley turned to look at Nisa with a face that seemed a mix of being impressed and trying to hold back a snicker with just a little bit of disdain in there. Nisa blushed but Michelle kept up her rant.

"Everywhere I went, you found me and pulled me back into your disputes! I hate you! _I hate all of you!_" Michelle screamed again.

"We have earned your hate." Sina said slowly. "I... I didn't see it, sister... Michelle..."

"_Just leave me alone!_" Michelle yelled louder. The sound reverberated through the odd dreamscape. But Crowley was unmoved.

"Michelle...please...put aside your frustrations. I know this is difficult for you but you are the only hope that your sisters have."

"I don't care!" Michelle snapped. "For _once_ in my life I am doing something _selfish!_ I don't _care_ what happens to them! They hated me and I hate _them_!" All four of the shades of her sisters recoiled from her, all with identical expressions of horror and disbelief.

Frowning, Crowley's face twisted slightly into a look of indignation. "Michelle!" He spoke loud enough his voice echoed in the dreamscape, ripples of blue passing over the atmosphere as he forced a silence to grant him a chance to speak again. "It is not just your sisters that need you, but everyone! Everyone, Karl, Jac, Amelia, Iriana..._everyone_ needs you."

"But... But I am a _failure!_" Michelle said slowly. "I fail everything I _do_. I couldn't even _die_ right!" She said as she slumped, her energy drained by her outbursts. "I will just _fail_ again! It's all I _do_." She sobbed.

"No, it's not." Coriana said softly. "You were the stable one. The sole stable thing in our lives. If we needed help, we could go to you. Even when you hated us you helped. We need you, Michelle."

"Aren't you listening, Coriana?" Michelle snapped. "I can't do this! I can't keep doing this!"

"Yes, you can." Sina said firmly. "My sister can do _anything_." Michelle stared at her, expecting sarcasm or a sneer. Instead, _Sina_ was _crying_. "I am sorry. I never saw it. I thought you were weak. I was wrong."

"But I _am_!" Michelle protested. "I am _weak_, I am _pathetic_, I am _lazy_, I am _stupid_. I am...not a good Tenno." All of her sisters muttered in disbelief at that. "And I am all alone!"

Silence followed for several seconds before Crowley's face changed to a sad one, though he managed to smile as he moved forward and gently brushed his hand over Michelle's cheek again. Every place where his body glowed began to exude a soothing blue mist that curled an flowed over his body like a mantle before it dispersed into a larger radius. "Michelle...you are so much more than you give yourself credit for." Shaking his head, Crowley donned his helmet, his voice still soothing after putting it on. "And you are not alone. I promise you, dear child, that you shall never...ever...be alone again.

Other forms appeared around the odd group. Some in warframes, some not. All composed of golden energy. One stepped forward out of the pack. The dark haired human woman's face was sad as she knelt down by Michelle.

"Michelle, you need to be strong." The human woman said softly. "Stronger than you have ever been. We are with you, but... in the end, the only one who will be able to stop what is coming...is you." She tapped Michelle's nose gently. "And before you say you are not strong enough, you are." Michelle stared up at her, tears falling and the woman pulled her closed and hugged her tight. "Oh Michelle... It's okay. Family can be...unpleasant at times But they _do_ love you. They do. And _you_ love them. Don't give up on them, Michelle. On us. We need you. We _all_ need you."

"Who are you?" Michelle asked after a moment. "I don't know you."

"No, you don't." The woman said gently. "My name is Mari and I am dead..."

* * *

Michelle woke up chilled. She had to talk to Eliza. Soon. Her guard stiffened at the door as Michelle sat up on her bed.

"Princess Michelle?" Petra asked. "Are you all right? You look pale."

"I feel like someone just walked over my grave." Michelle said honestly. "But... I am okay." Petra looked at her and Michelle sighed. "I need to talk to the Empress. As soon as possible."

"About?" Petra inquired politely, but froze as Michelle's gaze landed on her.

"Treason."

* * *

**((Another BIG thank you to Khimera for his help with this thread. Michelle really needed the help.))**


	16. Chapter 16

**Ceremonial Pomp and Circumstances**

"Are you sure about this, Mom?" Michelle asked, smoothing her still unfamiliar gown sleeves. The murmurs of the crowds gathered in the audience chamber penetrated the screen that hid her and her mother from them easily.

"He has a great deal of support here." Eliza said with a frown. "We need to expose him or his supporters will cause problems. I don't think he has any in the Royal Guard..." Petra and the huge form in a Rhino Prime warframe who stood nearby both stood at attention, but radiated disapproval. "...but we can't know for sure. He is devious. He always was. If he has been stealing life energy from my daughters' deaths..." Eliza grimaced. "We won't let him touch you, Michelle."

"I am not worried about _me_, Mom." Michelle said softly. "My...information says he is after _that_." She glanced at the crown that glowed on Empress Eliza's head. "I know you can't trust dreams, but... still..." She sighed.

"Stranger things have happened around the Tenno named Crowley. I could tell you some stories from before the Collapse." Eliza said with a shrug. "I wouldn't put it past Michael. We will take it under advisement. But with no proof..." She shrugged again. "No matter what, Michael will pay for whatever he did to your sisters today." Suddenly Michelle's mom looked like an Empress, cold, hard and dangerous.

"As you will it... Empress Eliza." Michelle said formally.

"Princess Michelle?" Eliza said quietly. "We are still in private. Stuff a _sock_ in it." Michelle surprised herself with giggle. Eliza smiled. "Better?"

"Better." Michelle agreed, then paused as Eliza opened her arms. She hugged her mother, careful not to muss either the Empress' gown or her own. She still felt odd in it. "So... I wait here?" She felt...odd. not fatigued, not edgy, just...odd.

"Yeah." Eliza said sourly. "The first thirty minutes or so will be administrative stuff. Boring but necessary. At least ten minutes will be the resource expenditure reports. Gah! Then I will introduce you."

"And I try not to fall on my face walking out to stand beside you." Michelle said with a grimace as she hefted the elaborate hem of her gown a bit off the floor. "This _thing_..." It wasn't heavy, but it was far bulkier than any clothing she had worn before. It was beautiful, she had to admit that. But utterly impractical.

"It took some time for me to get used to the gowns, Michelle." Eliza said with a smile. "Keep your steps slow and you will be fine." She leaned over and kissed Michelle on the cheek. A fanfare sounded and she stiffened. "Time."

"Knock em dead, Empress Eliza." Michelle said under her breath as the Empress followed her towering guard out into the hall. "I have your back, mom. I hope it's enough."

"Your mother is not to be trifled with, Princess Michelle." Petra said quietly from nearby. "Many have underestimated her to their cost."

"Correct me if I am wrong, Guard Captain..." Michelle said, staring out at where her mother was sitting on a simple golden chair. "...but isn't that the kind of thing you only get _one_ chance to screw up?" Petra nodded soberly as Empress Eliza of Orokin clapped her hands to begin the audience.

* * *

To her amazement, Michelle was fascinated by this. Even the resource expenditure reports seemed to fly by. Eliza had groaned over those more than once, but they hadn't been bad. Maybe after so long they would get tiresome and tedious. Most of the other petitions were interesting. This though... Michelle wasn't sure if she should laugh, cry, or put her face in her hands. Or go out and _beat_ some sense into someone.

"...and the floors, Your Imperial Majesty!" The elaborately dressed man was saying sharply. "The floors are scuffed! It will take weeks to buff those floors."

"Scientist Grasao." Empress Eliza was slouching a bit, her right hand propping her face up as she listened. "Correct us if we are wrong... Since we could not manufacture new equipment, you asked for _our_ help in moving your equipment from your old quarters to your new, yes?" Something in her tone had Michelle stiffen as Eliza spoke in the royal plural. Not humor. Not...sarcasm. Something. She wasn't the only one who heard it. Others in the crowd shifted subtly away from the speaker.

"I did!" He exclaimed, "But the mess..." He broke off as Eliza raised her left hand in a 'pause' gesture. "Ah..."

"And the Royal Guards we sent did as they were instructed, yes? They moved your equipment and nothing was broken or we would have been told." Eliza asked calmly. The scientist nodded, his face flushed and she sighed.

"To answer you, we are going to quote another Emperor, and it requires some explanation." Eliza said with a nod. "We don't know if this actually happened, but we bet it did. Probably about like it is told." She looked over the crowd and started speaking.

"Centuries before Orokin was created, there was another Empire on Earth. It was called 'Rome' and was based out of one of the city states of the country called Italy on the continent of Europe. They were, pretty much, the first superpower in recorded history. They conquered and administrated almost the entire known world of the time. They were... not nice." Eliza said with a shake of her head. "Their leaders were called Caesars."

"It was during the reign of a Caesar named Augustus than an uprising happened in the countryside near Rome. The landlords were fairly typical Romans, that is to say, decadent and slothful. They had servants and slaves -owned persons- to do all their work for them." More than one in the crowd grimaced at that and Eliza nodded. "The slaves rebelled. Who wouldn't?" She asked with a shrug. "Many others joined the initial slave uprising and soon there were more than a thousand of them running around. Most of them were not trained as fighters, but there were a lot of them. The landlords tried to stop the rebellion and couldn't. So they went to the Emperor." Michelle felt her eyes going wide as Eliza chuckled a bit sadly. "It's what Emperors and Empresses are supposed to be _for_, right? When you really need things done?" The Empress shook herself.

"Anyway, these landlords went to Caesar Augustus and asked him for help. His reply was 'Sure'." Eliza's face turned sad. "He called up one of his legions. Five thousand troops. They did what soldiers _do_. Soldiers are not trained to protect. Soldiers are not trained to build, or heal although many can do both, that is not their primary focus. Soldiers are trained to _kill_." She nodded an apology to the huge Tenno who stood at her side, but he did not react. "The Roman legion utterly annihilated the slave uprising. The threat was over so the soldiers went back to where they had come from and the nobles went home. What they found was horrifying. Their lands had been trampled. Their fields and orchards had either been cut down for firewood or battles had been fought across them and the land was ruined. Their magnificent houses had all burned down and all their treasures were gone. They went back to the Emperor and complained." The scientist was staring at her, ashen faced and she nodded.

"We are going to quote Augustus Caesar here, Scientist Grasao." Eliza said with a small smile. "You asked for help. The job is done. Do _not_ complain to us about the size of the _hammer_ we use to fix your problems." A nervous laugh tittered it's way across the crowd as the scientist bid a hasty retreat. "And do not blame the Royal Guard. They did as we asked." Eliza sighed and nodded. "Any other supplicants? No?"

"No one dares, Empress!" A brave souls in the crowd called with a laugh. That call made other people laugh.

"Don't get us wrong!" Eliza said sharply. "We are here to _help_. Our job is to _protect_ Orokin and keep its people happy, and healthy. But we only have so many personnel and resources. We have ample power..."

"I'll say!" The sort of heckler said loudly. The Rhino moved a little at Eliza's side, but she shook her head and he subsided.

"We have ample power, but scant other resources. We _cannot_ afford to replicate things at random." Eliza said with a sigh. "Even with Mari-Sona's new baby boy, we only have four thousand, six hundred and sixty seven people here. Well... Sixty eight." She looked to the side and smiled as she made eye contact with Michelle. "You all have heard we are sure."

A hum of anticipation swept the room and Michelle felt her stomach clench. Petra laid a hand on her arm and Michelle smiled at the Mag Prime, then squared her shoulders. She nodded to Eliza who turned to look back out at the crowd.

"It is our great pleasure to introduce to you all, our daughter. Michelle." Eliza held out her hand and Michelle strode out onto the stage, her feet slow and careful in her gown. She felt rather than saw Petra follow her.

Michelle walked to where Eliza sat and bowed formally as she had been coached. She hadn't had to use the etiquette training her training masters had put her through in millennia, but she still remembered the moves. She took Eliza's hand in her own and knelt gracefully despite the gown. At least with the heavy garment, no one could tell her knees were knocking. She had seen Michael in the crowd. Watching. A barely visible shimmering around him meant he was in his warframe.

"This is my daughter Michelle." Eliza said softly, giving Michelle's hand a squeeze. "My only remaining kin. My heir and my successor." A murmur went around the crowd and Michelle went still as a female human stepped forward. Eliza nodded. "Yes, Justice of the Peace Naomi?"

"I mean no disrespect to you or your daughter, Your Imperial Majesty." The dark skinned woman said slowly. "But we have heard she is Tenno. Sworn to their Code. _Can_ she rule?"

"A very good question." Eliza said softly. "Michelle?" She asked her daughter. "Will you answer?"

"Yes, Empress Eliza." Michelle said, releasing her mother's hand and rising. "Justice Naomi, other citizens of Orokin... Tenno are sworn to serve, not to rule. Never to rule. But there_ is_ provision within the Code for situations like this. Where a Tenno is called by duty to assume a role such as this. We are generally unsuited for such things, but we do learn fast. I will never wear a warframe again." A mutter of disbelief went around the room, but Michelle wasn't done. "I ask that what you are about to see remains in confidence. It is a Tenno matter. But you all need to know."

"I think we can guarantee that." Eliza said quietly, looking around the room. Michelle nodded to her mother and then turned to the huge Tenno who stood beside her throne.

"I have no clan leader to ask. I have always walked alone. Guard Commander Artos, you are eldest amongst the Tenno who serve the Royal Guard. I come before you a supplicant." Michelle said, taking a deep breath. "I find... I have a...calling outside of the Code. I do not wish this. But... I am needed."

"Are you certain, sister?" Artos' voice was calm and serene, but held a hint of sadness. "Once done, this cannot be undone. You are a good Tenno."

"Perhaps." Michelle said softly. "But I _am_ needed. I will not be selfish and let the remnants of Orokin fall to chaos." Everyone went still as they saw tears start to fall. "I do not wish this. But it must be. Tenno do not _rule_." Artos sighed.

"You will be mourned, sister Michelle." Atros replied softly. More than one person gasped as his hand went up and his huge Galantine sword came to a ready position quick as thought. "Make yourself ready."

_Several_ people gasped as Michelle knelt in front of the Guard Commander, her head bowed and her arms crossed in front of her chest, arms to the shoulders. Several others started to protest, but a quick gesture from Eliza silenced them all. The Guard Commander's sword came down slowly until it the point hovered in front of Michelle's face. He held the enormous blade there effortlessly.

"Tenno serve." Artos spoke in that same soft and sad voice. "Tenno do not rule. As the First proclaimed, so we obey. You will be missed." He turned his sword so that the blade was parallel to the ground. More than one protest was started as Michelle looked up and reached up with her bare _hands_ to grasp the _point_ of the sword. Blood immediately began to fall. "Farewell, sister." The Tenno Commander withdrew the blade, leaving Michelle's hands to drip in midair. The bloody tip tapped her on the head and energy flared. A short, sharp pain in Michelle's head made her start to cry out, but she bit her cheek and held it in as her ability to use a warframe was stripped from her. Forever. "You are Michelle, daughter of Eliza, Princess of Orokin. You are no longer Tenno."

Michelle gave a small cry and slumped away from the sword. "I..." She stammered for a moment, then her voice steadied. "I am Michelle, daughter of Eliza. Princess of Orokin." She shook her head savagely and her face became stern as she rose. The Guard Commander stepped back, his sword returning to it's place at his back. "Thank you, Guard Commander." She said formally.

"A sad day. We mourn our sister." Artos replied, bowing from the neck. "A _bright_ day. We _hail our Princess_." He shouted as he saluted her, fist to breast. A series of clangs came from around the room as all the Royal Guard present did the same.

"Your orders remain." Michelle said slowly as she rose to her feet. Petra was there with a hand outstretched. Michelle held out her bleeding hands for her guard to spray the green mist over and the wounds immediately stopped bleeding. Now the only pain was in her heart. "Be vigilant, Tenno." Michelle said as Petra finished. She nodded to the Mag Prime as Petra resumed her place. Michelle moved to stand beside the throne and looked at the crowd. The judge who had questioned her stood, open mouthed in shock. "I serve Orokin, Justice of the Peace Naomi. Now and always."

The woman stared at her. Then Naomi bowed formally, deep with respect and then retreated into the crowd without a word. No one spoke. No one dared.

"This is my daughter." Eliza's voice cut through the silence in the room like a knife. It mixed sadness and pride. "Michelle, Princess of Orokin." She rose and hugged her daughter tight. Michelle returned it. Applause started and then was suddenly general, everyone clapping.

"Michael is wearing his warframe, mother." Michelle whispered into the Empress' ear.

"I saw." Eliza replied just as quietly. "But we need to do it now."

"I am with you, mother." Michelle gave her mom a final squeeze and then stepped back as the Empress did. Eliza sat and gestured. Michelle took her place beside the throne and slightly in back.

"There is one last piece of business on our agenda, my Lords and Ladies." Eliza said as the crowd started to break up. All of the movement stopped as she spoke. "It was not marked formally for reasons that will become clear." Her voice turned flat. "Advisor Michael, bastard son of my eldest brother, step forward."

That had been a shock. That Michael was related to the Royal House. He took after his mother apparently, or Eliza's brother hadn't looked a thing like her. At the height of Orokin, medical technology had been such that inbreeding wasn't the massive problem it had been for previous royalties. But that might explain why Michelle and her sisters had been...odd. Michael stepped forward, his form shimmering as his warframe became visible.

"Show your face, Michael." Eliza snapped. Michael shrugged and his helmet retracted.

"I know you are emotional at the moment. Is there a reason for this rudeness, Empress Eliza?" Michal inquired calmly.

"You tell me." Eliza said coldly. "Why were you _present_ when each of our other four children _died_?" The questioning mutter that had erupted in the crowd suddenly stilled.

"That is a question that should be answered in privacy." Michael said, frowning. "I have done what was needed to ensure Orokin's survival."

"I have nothing to hide from the people of Orokin, Michael." Eliza said calmly. "Do _you?_"

"Eliza..." Michael said quietly. "Now is not the time for..." He broke off and froze as Guard Commander Artos stepped forward, his hand on his sword hilt.

"_You_ will address the Empress properly." Artos said with a snarl. "Or _I_ will instruct you in etiquette." From his tone, he might _not_ use the flat of his blade. Eliza shook her head and the Tenno subsided.

"When the questions pertain to murder, necromancy and possible treason..." At the Empress' words, silence reigned in the room. "No." She said calmly. "I will not skulk about like you have. I will not slither into the darkness to _plot_. What have you done, Michael? What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious, _Your Imperial Majesty_?" He asked sarcastically. Michelle quailed a bit as Michael actually smiled. He _wanted_ this confrontation now! "I want that." He waved the crown on her head.

"And you are going to give it to me."


	17. Chapter 17

**Nekros**

The silence after Michael's declaration was complete. The crowd of onlookers were backing away towards the exits, slowly. The Tenno of the Royal Guard all had hands on their weapons. But then it all stopped as Eliza laughed. And not lightly, no these were belly laughs of pure amusement. Michelle stared at her mother, who was obviously trying very hard not to fall off of her _throne_ laughing.

"You...?" She get out between chuckles. "You want _this?_" She waved at the crown. "Come ahead!" She took it off and held it out. It stopped glowing as soon as she took it off. "Take it!"

"You know better than that, Eliza. I know it is locked to your genetic code." Michael said coldly. "You know what I want."

"Yeah." The Empress of Orokin sighed and relaxed into her chair as she put the crown back on and it started glowing again. "Yes, I guess I do and I cannot give it to you. Even if you could handle it, which you _can't_. I am sworn to protect Orokin. From all enemies. Foreign _and_ domestic. And you are Tenno. Tenno do not rule."

"I _am_ Orokin. More than Tenno. Much, much more." Michael said slowly. Steely hisses sounded all around as _all_ of the Royal Guards drew their weapons. That would not stand. The crowd bolted for the doors. "I will rebuild the Empire. I will lead us all into a new age of peace and prosperity."

"Orokin? Is that what you told yourself when you killed our daughters?" Eliza asked coldly.

"I did not kill them." Michael said offhandedly. "And since they were _my_ experiment to begin with, well..." He shrugged. "A successful experiment. Somewhat sad but needed. Dispassion must be maintained in a clinical environment."

"All this..." Eliza said slowly, stunned. "All this time? To gain the crown?"

"Why _else_?" Michael asked scornfully, apparently not noting or caring that a circle of angry Tenno were closing in on him. "You were perfect."

"Ah..." Eliza said, her gaze thoughtful. "A lonely girl. A cast aside daughter. An easy conquest. Five daughters at once was not a coincidence, was it?"

"No." Michael said offhandedly. "The genetic linkages are stronger through the maternal line. This was known for centuries before the Collapse. The bond between the five was hard to achieve, but in the end, it worked." Michelle hissed and he nodded. "Princess."

"You." Michelle took an involuntary step forward, but froze when Eliza laid a hand on her arm. "_You_ did this to us. _Father!_ _You_ did this!" She shouted.

"It was needed." Michael said quietly. "I... regret the pain it has caused you. But it was needed."

"You _lie_." Michelle snapped. "You don't regret _anything_ you have done. At all. It's all chess pieces to you. Admit it!"

"A certain amount of detachment is needed in any scientific endeavor." Michael said in faint reproof. "Emotions get in the way. Calm down, Princess. Your life is not in danger here."

"No, but _yours_ is!" Michelle snapped.

"Is it?" Michael asked calmly as the Tenno closed into sword range. "Is it really?" All the Tenno stopped at a gesture from Eliza.

"Michael..." Eliza begged. "I loved you once. Don't do this. Don't make me do this. Whatever you have done, we can fix. But don't make me do this. Please?"

"And _that_, my dear Eliza..." Michael said with a smirk. "...is why you are _not_ a good leader. A _good_ leader would have had me gunned down before I was ready." He raised a hand and the Tenno around him tensed, but it wasn't aimed at Eliza! No! it was aimed at...

Michelle screamed as something she had no words for was ripped from her. Suddenly, she found herself floating in mid air, screams pouring from her throat as power flowed through her. Flowing from... somewhere and into Michael's outstretched hand. She couldn't move, couldn't even writhe, The only reason she could scream, she realized, was that Michael _wanted_ her to be able to.

"You lousy scum!" Petra snapped, her Orthos Prime coming down. "Let her go!"

"Why would I do that?" Michael asked mildly. "Stand aside Tenno, this is between me and my aunt."

"Like hell!" Petra screamed, interposing herself between Michael and Michelle. Nothing happened and she paused. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Claiming my birthright." Michael said calmly. "Stand. Aside." He commanded. The Tenno surrounding him did not move and he sighed. "So be it." He clenched his fist and Michelle screamed anew as the rate of power flowing through her doubled and then doubled again. She couldn't... A human body couldn't... She no longer had the protection of a warframe link! The power was coming from... nowhere. Or nowhere that could be _seen_!

"Michael _stop!_" Eliza cried, anguish in her tone. "You don't know what you are doing!"

"I know _exactly_ what I am doing." Michael said as the Tenno closed in. "Take off your crown and put it on our daughter. Do it now. Or she dies when the power flow increases. You know the agony. Would you let our daughter die?"

"She is _my_ daughter!" Eliza snapped. "Not yours. _Never_ yours. You _left_! You gave up any claim to her."

Michelle went still despite her agony. She was the _key_ as Michael had said before. She... She couldn't. She knew what she had to do. What _Petra_ had to do!

"_Petra! Stop me!_" Michelle screamed. The Tenno who was her guard spun in place as Michelle screamed again. "_He will use me to_-..." Her words broke off in a wail of agony as Michael waved at her and more pain seared through her.

"Be silent, girl." Michael said evenly. "If you stop resisting, the pain will be less." Eliza gave a small cry.

"You are... lost. So be it, Michael. I _did_ love you..._once_." Eliza said with a sad sigh. "Kill him." She said, slumping on her throne.

"Bad choice..._Empress_." Michael said with a savage smile as the Tenno charged. Suddenly there was flash of light and... the number of Tenno in the room had doubled! But...

Michelle stared through tear streaked eyes as the orange shadows of Tenno raised their weapons and charged the Tenno who had been menacing Michael. These were no normal Nekros shadows though. Each wore warframes and held weapons! Some of the designs were...ancient looking. All of them glowed with golden energy under the orange and all moved spasmodically, as if they were puppets. They were! Michelle realized with horror. Michael was controlling the summoned shadows somehow. But they were more than shadows. She saw Sina, Coriana, Nisa and Oria mixed in with the shadows. These were the dead! He had summoned the dead from their rest! At least two dozen of them were present and more were appearing! The power was flowing through her so fast. It was a torrent of pain.

"_Petra!_" Michelle wailed and then screamed again, a wordless cry of agony as power flowed through her faster.

"Michael, stop!" Eliza begged. "You don't know what you are doing!"

"I know _exactly_ what I am doing." Michael said dismissively. "I am claiming my birthright." He waved a finger as Petra moved towards Michelle and waved a hand. "Uh uh..."

Michelle could only watch as Petra was suddenly faced by _two_ Tenno in shadowy warframes. Michelle'e guard didn't waste time, she engaged them both, her Prime Orthos flashing.

"Michael!" Eliza cried. "This is madness!"

"This is _Orokin_, Eliza! Raw power! _My_ power!" Michael retorted hotly. "Give me the power or I will _take_ it!"

"You don't understand." Eliza wept, then jerked as a shadowy thing impaled her to the back of her throne. One of the shadows dropped her bow. Sina was screaming silently as she drew a pair of Fang daggers and charged the Royal Guard. "No..." Eliza gasped. The Royal Guard Tenno were being pushed back by sheer weight of numbers as Michael strode to the throne to look at the shadow arrow that had impaled Eliza to the throne. She grasped the shaft with limp hands. "You don't know what you are doing..." She pleaded. "Michael... you _don't_."

"Calm down. You are not going to die, Eliza. The arrow missed the arteries." Michael said calmly. "Besides, I will need every Orokin female of breeding age if I am to rebuild the Empire. You will serve nicely. Even sterile, you can serve."

"Michael..." Eliza pleaded as he took the crown from her head. It stopped glowing. "You will kill us all." She said sadly, slumping over the arrow.

"Have a little faith." Michael said with a smile as he stepped to where Michelle was still floating. "Easy, girl. It's okay. Daddy's here." Michelle spit in his face despite her agony and he sighed. Then he backhanded her. The pain was miniscule compared to the torrents of power flowing through her. "This disobedience will not be tolerated." He said sternly.

"I am _not_ your slave!" Michelle grated out past her pain.

"Oh, yes you are." Michael said with a smile as he laid the crown on her head. It sat there and did nothing and he shook his head. "Naughty, naughty, Eliza. What is the command code?"

"Fuck you!" Eliza snapped.

"You did." Michael said with a small expression of distaste. "And tell you the truth? You were not all that good. Nisa was _much_ better." Michael stepped away from Michelle who was screaming again. "The code, Eliza. Quickly."

"So you can _rule_?" Eliza said, shaking her head. "I cannot allow that. You don't understand. Orokin is not about power, Michael." She pleaded. "It is not about _ruling!_ It is about _balance_, not personal dreams of _glory_!"

"_Your_ Orokin was not about power." Michael corrected her quietly. "_Mine_ is."

"Then the answer...must be 'no'." Eliza said, bowing her head. "I am sorry, Michelle."

"_I am not!_" Michelle screamed again as agony overwhelmed her speech.

"Fools." Michael said, his face twisting. "You misguided fools! You would destroy everything in your pathetic need for _peace_? Why?"

"When I die..." Michelle grated out. "Your power fades and _you_ die! You... will be stopped..." She sighed and slumped in whatever held her. "You disgusting piece of _trash_!"

"Be silent!" Michael snapped, his composure fading. "Eliza! The _code_!"

"I can't give you what you want, Michael." Eliza said sadly. "You will destroy us all. You don't know what you are doing."

"Would you like to hear your dear girl scream some more?" Michael asked idly, his hand coming up to cup Michelle's cheek. He recoiled as she lunged and bit. "What?" He shouted, jumping back as she grinned over a bloody mouth. Biting a warframe hurt the biter but it had shocked _him_. "You blasted child!" He backhanded her again, this time a bruise purpled her face.

"Go ahead! Hurt me more!" Michelle gasped out. "You still _lose!_"

"No." Michael said calming. "I have a better idea." His face held an evil grin as he held up a hand and touched her on the side of the head.

Suddenly, Michelle was staring at the scene from above. Her body fell to the floor and then rose. She felt faint as she saw the trails of energy that led from Michael to her body and the thin, almost insubstantial one that held her to her body. At least the pain had faded. But then... Michelle was crying as she watched her body lurch towards her mother's still form.

"Michael, stop this!" Eliza said, horror in her tone. "You truly do not understand. You would undo _everything_ we have left for a few years of personal luxury? I cannot allow that!"

"You are so pathetic, Eliza." Michael said with a sneer. "_You_ may not be able to command the power of Orokin, but _I_ can. How much will you let your daughter suffer? Hmmm?" He asked as Michelle's body staggered to a halt in front of Eliza and waited, silent.

"_You don't know what you are doing!_" Eliza screamed as combat continued in the hall. "No one can control it, Michael! No one!"

The Royal Guard were good. Even outnumbered, they were holding their own, but all were obviously hurt now. None of the shadows looked scratched. Petra was bleeding in several places, Michelle noticed. But the Guard Captain's blades still flashed as she tried to get to Michelle's controlled body past the _three_ shadows that blocked her now.

"You are wrong, Eliza." Michael said calmly. "We don't have a lot of time before the power kills Michelle, so... Michelle? Take off your gown." Michelle stiffened in her astral prison. He wasn't going to...

"No..." Eliza said, horrified as Michelle's body did as instructed, ripping her beautiful gown. The heavy cloth fell in a heap beside her, leaving her body to stand in her undergarments. "Don't..."

"The code, Eliza." Michael said with dreadful force. "_Now_."

"No." Eliza bowed her head. "No matter what you make her body do, no matter what you do to _me_... We are sworn to defend Orokin. From people like _you_."

"I am sorry you feel that way." Michael said with a sigh. "Michelle-..."

Whatever Michael was going to say was cut off by a bright flash of golden light. When it cleared, Michelle felt hope suddenly soar again! Five _more_ Tenno in warframes stood in the middle of the carnage filled hall. Karl in his Rhino, Will in his Excalibur Prime, Alicia in her Trinity and Two in her Banshee. All held weapons at the ready. But it was the blue Nekros in their midst that suddenly had _all_ attention in the hall. Shadows and Royal Guard all stared at the _other_ guardian of the dead.

"Crowley..." Michael snarled.

Head held high, the ice-colored Nekros slowly walked toward Michael, his energy trailing along behind him in the bloodiest red anyone had ever seen. It was almost as if blood had been ignited with rage in his body, seeping out through his energy vents. Waving his hand out toward Michelle's sisters, Crowley ignited their forms in blue, driving off Michael's influence as his silence persisted even as his energy began to whorl about his gaunt form into a grand maelstrom of malice.

A low, metallic hiss came from Crowley's throat as he pointed to his nemesis, his energy solidifying into shapes that soon drew detail onto themselves taking the forms of ancient Tenno. Some of the grandest warriors and assassins in history began to walk beside Crowley on his death march, all of them in the same bloody crimson and radiating the same bloodlust and rage. Stopping not five yards from his target the blue guardian of the dead released a guttural growl.

"Michael...the dead will have judgment." Normally calm and clear his voice was warped by the vast amounts of energy seething around and in his body, the last of his wraiths forming a protective circle around their summoner holding their weapons up in old ceremonial testaments to honor. "Cease...and I shall let your daughters decide your fate. If you do not...then it is my duty as Grand-Master of the Dead to see you ended!"

"What...?" Michael said as some of his shadows vanished. "No! _No!_ Those souls are _mine_! _Mine_!" He screamed. "I will _destroy_ you!" He began to pull more power from Michelle's link to Orokin.

Karl's Tenno, far from cowed, dashed into the fray. Michelle screamed as she slammed back into her body and power arced from her to Michael. But... it was lesser. Blocked somehow? She could move and she crawled towards where her mom sat, still pinned to the throne. One of Michael's shadows moved to block her, but then it was bowled over by a huge form in rent armor. Guard Commander Artos snarled, but... Something hit him from behind and he stiffened. His huge sword fell from nerveless fingers and he collapsed to lie still.

"Artos!" Eliza cried, her heart in her mouth. "No!"

"M... Mother..." Michele was faltering. She tried to pull the crown off and couldn't. It seemed stuck to her. The rush of power through her was increasing again. "I... I can't..." She reached for Eliza, but she was still too far away. She pulled herself further then collapsed in a sobbing heap. "I can't..."

"It's okay, Michelle." Eliza said softly. Then she straightened and spoke loudly, hissing from the pain in her shoulder. "_Grand Master..._ _Tenno... Stop Michael. No matter the cost!_" She cried, rage, hate and sorrow all vying for prominence. "_**Stop him!**__ Don't let him unleash the power. He __cannot__ control it_. He will kill _everything_ in this system!"

"Shut up!" Michael screamed, slamming a punch of soul energy at Eliza. "You lying witch! Just shut up already!"

The energy did not reach its destination. Instead, Crowley's hand intercepted the blast, the energy fading from orange into his bloodlust red. Clenching his fist the wrathful Tenno dispersed the energy as he glared at the aggressor to the empress. Crowley raised his other hand and called four azure shades to his side ready to defend the one they knew as mother. Turning fully to face Michael one could almost swear a sinister smile lay behind the Raknis helmet.

"So be it." With a snap of his fingers Crowley set loose his crimson wraiths, all of his shadows working in concert to cut down the orange shades left under Michael's control. However, this seemed to cause the energy trails leaving Crowley's body to thicken as if in emulation of bleeding or retaliation for the use of such power. "All things come at a cost, Damned One." Crowley hissed as he drew his energy out into the form of a wicked scythe that matched none ever recorded in the Tenno's archives. "So, too, is there a cost for Orokin's great secret." A single arcing swing of the demonic weapon and it faded into red sparks, but the target had been struck and weakened; the energy linking Michael and Michelle. "You cannot hope to pay the price in all eternity."

Michelle jerked as the power flowing from her was partly severed. She gasped, then crawled towards her mother. But then... She paused. She felt...

"No!" Michael shouted. All around him, the battle raged, but he paid it no mind. "Orokin is _mine!_" Suddenly he was wreathed in golden energy. "Yes..." He said with sinister glee. "It is mine!" But...

"No, it's not." Michelle said softly, rising to her knees and then to her feet. Her voice...resonated oddly. The golden power arced from _him_ to _Michelle!_ "You would doom us all in your ignorance? Everyone? For your _greed_? Mother..." She cast a longing look at Eliza who paled. "I understand." Michelle said slowly. "The duty of any right thinking monarch is to protect her people." The pulsing power stopped, but the golden crown on her head was _glowing_. Eliza gave a cry of heart wrenching sorrow. "Your control has faltered, Michael. False Tenno. Traitor. I am myself again. I am not your puppet." She snapped.

"No..." Michael breathed, his gave flitting from Michelle to Crowley and back. "_No, you can't!_"

"Grand Master Crowley, I beg your assistance..." Michelle continued in that oddly resonant voice. "I have not the knowledge to stop him. Help me Tenno. You are my only hope."

"As you wish...milady..." Crowley's voice seemed strained as he agreed to the task, already beginning the gestures to draw the battle against Michael onto a different ground. It sounded like sadness even as he murmured words in old Orokin to focus his power.

"You will not take what is _mine_!" Michael screamed as he raised his hands. Power surged from them to slam into Michelle. She lost her footing and fell, close to the throne, the breath knocked out of her. The crown went flying. She quailed as it stopped near Michael's foot. "Orokin is _mine_!" He declared.

"It's _not_ yours!" Eliza said, gasping as she tried to pull the arrow from her shoulder. She gave up after a moment, it was too deeply embedded. "It was _never_ yours!"

"It is _mine_!" Michael snarled, a viscous, hating sound. He scooped up the crown and slammed it down on his own head. "I will show you all the _true_ meaning of power!" His few remaining shadows attacked harder, their movements almost frenzied.

"Michael! _No!_" Eliza screamed loud enough to deafen for a moment. "_Don't_...!"

"What's he _doing_?" Michelle managed to gasp.

"He is trying to bypass the genetic lock." Eliza said with a grimace, trying to yank herself free again. "I... I can't... I can't stop him without the _crown_! Michelle..."

"If he does bypass the lock?" Michelle asked, terror blooming.

"Boom." Eliza said with a gulp. "Big... big boom. Supernova class boom. He can't control it. _I_ can't. _No one_ can." She stiffened as Michelle got to her knees and crawled to her side. "Michelle?" She asked, suddenly filled with a terror she couldn't define. Michelle rose just far enough to place a kiss on Eliza's cheek.

"I love you mom." Michelle said sadly then rose to her feet and ran to where Michael was frozen in place by the power he was struggling with. "You will not destroy my people!" She declared as she broke into a run. Eliza's denial sounded behind her, but she ignored it. She ignored the battle raging around her. She ignored everything but her enemy. Her nemesis. Her doom.

"Michelle..." Michael's voice echoed oddly as his hand came up. Power slammed from his hand into Michelle and she fell, but then she rolled to her feet and kept on going. "Daughter. You cannot stop me. Join me. We can rule Orokin together! Father and daughter!"

"No." Michelle said clearly as she reached him. With a fast, precise move, she pulled the crown from his head and threw it to Eliza. He screamed as hair and skin went with it. Then she wrapped her arms around him as raw golden power reached out to take hold of both of them. Her world dissolved into agony.


	18. Chapter 18

**Sacrifice**

Michelle was falling. But she was not. She was screaming. But she was not. She was wearing the gown that had been ripped off? But... she wasn't. She was on her hands and knees on a solid surface. But she was still falling. Then something grabbed her. She was hauled face to face with the most hated person in her life. Her father.

"You ignorant child!" Michael's flushed face was distorted by golden power but solidified as she watched. He shook her harshly. His warframe was...wrong. It was shadowed in places that it shouldn't have been, but he didn't notice in his anger. "You have nearly ruined everything!"

"You would kill everyone in your ignorance and arrogance." Michelle said calmly but her mind was racing. How long could she hold him? How long would it take Crowley to arrive? _Could_ Crowley stop Michael? He had to. Even if it cost Michelle her life, the Tenno had to stop the insane Nekros. "It is the duty of any right thinking monarch to oppose madmen such as you."

"You are such a puling brat!" Michael slapped Michelle across the face with his gauntlet and she felt flesh tear. Wherever she was, it wasn't virtual. "I should have left your sister Sina to take the burden! She at least had guts!"

"So this was all planned." Michelle said softly. "The five of us. The...implantation of whatever you did to the others... This was all part of your plan." She said, working to stay calm despite the power that was growing around Michael. She hoped Eliza could stop the power buildup. The tiny bit that Michelle had seen when the crown had activated on her head had frankly terrified the princess. "At least tell me what you did to me and why!" She said with a snap. "You owe me that much at the very least."

"I don't owe you anything." Michael said with a sinister laugh. "I _made_ you. You owe me!"

"Well... in that case... I don't owe _you_ anything." Michelle replied softly. "You may have contributed genetic material, but you did _nothing_ else." She brought a leg up and was gratified to hear an 'oof' as it slammed into the pit between his legs. Nekros armor was not that strong and couldn't be strong everywhere if they wanted to be mobile. She jerked away and ran. But she couldn't go anywhere. Her legs were moving, but _she_ wasn't!

"You are a naughty, naughty girl..." Michael chided form behind her. "And naughty girls get punished."

"Like you punished Nisa?" Michelle snarled, trying to break free from whatever held her. She had to hold his attention. She had to! "Or what you did to Coriana? Giving her to the Corpus was _low_ even for _you_!"

"I didn't kill any of them." Michael said mildly. A hand traced her body. "You might as well stop running. I control this place. Every... little...bit... of it..."

Suddenly, Michelle found herself on the... She wasn't on the ground! She was on a table! She stared wildly around at the gleaming instruments! It was a Corpus facility! She was strapped to a dissection table in a Corpus facility! She shook her head.

"So this is how you get your rocks off?" Michelle asked sourly. "Watching religious fanatics hurt our kin?"

"Tenno are not our kin, Michelle." Michael said kindly as he appeared nearby. "We are Orokin, we are superior."

"_Superior?_" Michelle spat at him, but the spittle fell far short. "You are an idiot. You were _born_ an idiot and you will always _be_ an idiot."

"You won't feel that way in a little while, my dear." Michael said, his hand coming down to cup her head. She slammed her head back into the table, crushing his hand under her, but he just chuckled. "Feisty. Your sisters thought you were a timid little mouse, but a tiger hides under that shell, doesn't it?"

"You have no idea." Michelle snarled, but then screamed as power flared into her head.

"Doesn't matter." Michael said absently. "What was the code?"

"Code?" Michelle asked with a grimace. "Oh, the code to unlock your _manhood_? I dunno. Can you _find_ it to input it?" Power flared and she screamed again.

"Don't play games with me, brat!" Michael snapped. "I don't have a lot of time. I can fix this and I don't want to render your mind down to mush, but I will if I have to. What. Was. The. Code?" He demanded.

"What code?" Michelle screamed as power flayed her mind. "I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Don't play stupid." Michael said sourly. "The code to the Crown. It wouldn't activate for me, it activated for you. Your bitch of a mother had it code locked."

"Better a bitch than a mass murdering moron who can't see beyond his own _greed_!" Michelle snapped and then screamed again as her father hurt her again. Then Michael sighed.

"Ok..." He said quietly. "We have had a...failure to communicate. I don't want Orokin for myself, Michelle. I want to end the war. Restore Orokin to its glory. Everything I have done has been to restore Orokin."

"You lie." Michelle said weakly, gasping for breath.

"Do I?" Michael asked softly. "You know? Did you mom tell you that I was here before she was? You know what I was doing? Backups. Putting contingencies in place in case of catastrophe. I had no idea of course. None of us did. But it was a good thing I was here. I was there when she was brought in, barely alive. If I had wanted to be Emperor, why didn't I kill her then?"

"Royal Guard all over the place probably." Michelle snapped. "Waiting for a good moment to slip poison? Like you did my sisters?"

"Look..." Michael said softly. "I didn't kill them. I took genetic samples. That was what I was there for. Yes, the sampling disoriented them. Yes, it was probably a causal factor in their deaths. Yes, I regret it." Michelle scoffed and Michael snarled. "Believe what you will, girl. But I did not want their deaths. I took their energy to help my cause when they fell. But I did not _want_ them dead. They were needed to help repopulate after I was done. Their loss is a tragedy."

"So you are going to kill me instead." Michelle said with a grim smile. "_Sure_ you feel their loss."

"Not if I can help it." Michael corrected her. "You are young, strong, healthy and fertile. Without your...rebellious streak, you are exactly what is needed." Michelle stiffened at his totally emotionless tone. "If you die, the Royal Family will have to be remade and Eliza is sterile due to her injuries. We would have to bring in outsiders, and that...rarely works well."

"You soulless piece of crap!" Michelle snapped. "Is that all we are? Mobile wombs for you?"

"It won't be a bad life, Michelle." Michael said quietly. "You will want for nothing. You will be cared for. Pampered, cosseted even. Just relax, let me take care of you..." His hand was oddly gentle as it settled on her forehead.

"No!" Michelle screamed. "I won't serve you! I won't kill my people!"

"It won't." Michael said with a sigh. "I don't know where Eliza got that alarmist idea from, but I can control it. Maybe because I am male? My father promised me I could and every test shows positive."

"You are an _idiot_!" Michelle screamed. "You didn't _feel_ it! You don't _understand_!" Michael continued as if he hadn't heard her. Maybe he hadn't.

"The Grineer will be crushed. The Infested, likewise. The Corpus will be invaluable when we start to rebuild, so we will try to take prisoners there." Michael said calmly as a gentle pressure mounted on Michelle's scalp. "When I have the Crown, the Tenno will fall in line."

"You poor deluded fool..." Michelle said slowly. "You really don't get it at all..." She said, her eyes starting to burn. "You just don't understand. And you never will."

"Don't cry, Michelle." Michael's voice oozed fake sympathy. "It won't be long until I can take full control. You will get the crown from your mother and activate it. You will give it to me and we can end this charade."

"Never!" Michelle snarled, but then screamed as the pressure on her head mounted.

"Who said you had a choice?" Michael asked mildly. "A puppet can bear young. And that is all I need." Michelle screamed loud and long as power bored into her skull.

"You really are a fool." Came a calm and familiar voice as the atmosphere warped, blue ripples twisting everything back to a blank, gray mindscape as it had been before. From nothingness came Crowley, though his Nekros had been altered a bit. It seemed more regal now, though it lacked the gold of a prime. Down his back was an odd attachment similar to a syandana, though it roughly imitated the shape of a thorn-riddled spine. Rather than his helmet Crowley let his face show through, his eyes glowing with the same blue light as the rest of his warframe. "You should know better than anyone that the soul is a battleground for any Nekros with the proper skill."

Glaring with contempt at Michael the ice-colored Tenno brought his hand up and blew Michael away a fair distance with an invisible wave of power. "If Orokin are superior, as you claim, then in comparison to an Orokin Advisor an Orokin Grand-Master is even more superior than such a gap." The wrath instilled in Crowley back in reality seemed to have been left behind, all traces of warping in his voice gone and like Michelle's before it seemed to echo in the featureless realm they now stood in. "Milady, choose your field of battle. Here, his will is no match for mine or yours. _Will_ is what defines the soul, and yours outstrips this greenling's by far!"

"Me?" Michelle asked incredulous. "This is..._my_...?" She stiffened. "This is my soul...?" She said, her tone reverent. She shook herself and smiled a bit forlornly. "I never was a very good student, Master Crowley. But I _do_ learn fast."

She took a deep breath and the world around then shifted, from a Corpus laboratory to an open air amphitheatre. The stone seats and grassy carpet proclaimed its purpose and the huge visage of Jupiter overhead proclaimed where they were. A terraformed habitat on a moon of the largest planet in the Solar System. Michelle rose from where she was lying and assumed a seiza position.

"No!" Michael shouted. "No! Not now. Not when I am so close!"

"You are further away than you can imagine." Michelle said sadly. "Holis Colony. I have never been here, but a friend described it."

"More than a friend." A sad voice sounded as a human figure appeared near Michelle. "A sister of sorrow." Michael stared at the form and raised his hand, but whatever he tried had no effect and he hissed.

"Hello Mari." Michelle said softly. "It's time?"

"Indeed it is." Mari agreed. "We are with you, Michelle. Kick his ass."

"Do what you must, Master Crowley. Do _not_ hold back. My life is meaningless." Michelle said calmly. "For the Tenno, for Orokin, for the survival of _all_, Michael must be stopped. I do not know how to do battle here. Command me, Master and I will obey."

"You are a fool, girl." Michael snapped, summoning shadows around himself. "You only prolong your pain. You cannot prevail here, old man!"

A deep sadness came to Crowley's eyes as he stared at the princess. She indeed learned swiftly, but her aptitude also seemed to be a source of sorrow in this case. The moment of hesitation was enough to leave Crowley open to a strike by one of the shadows, sending him skidding back against the amphitheater wall. Grunting and shaking his head the guardian of the dead held his hand out and called forth a Galatine with the same colors as his warframe.

"I cannot...I...I do not wish to lose another so close to me." Crowley's face was twisted by despair as he swept forward and cut through the shadows with speed that was literally impossible for such a massive weapon. Then again, in this realm those with the greatest will held the greatest power. Fighting with himself even as he cut through Michael's shades Crowley called forth an old Orokin soul clad in gold light for each of the ones in black he destroyed. "In so short a time I have grown fond of you milady...are you truly sure?" It was an obvious answer, but he was only trying to delay what had to be done, delaying the necessary pain. "Grasp the power inside you, milady, grasp it and give it a voice!"

"Fools!" Michael screamed, cutting loose with raw power. "You prattle and prance and for what? To dance to someone else's tune? You are all of you beneath me!" He declared as power soared towards Michelle and the still specter beside her. "Die!"

The Soul Punch flew unerringly towards Michelle who made no motion to dodge. It hit her and... vanished. She jerked, but did not fall. Michael stared at her, dumbfounded.

"_We_ are the fools?" Michelle asked sadly. "I pity you, father. I truly do. You will never understand."

"_I_ do not understand?" Michael asked slowly. "Well done, daughter. Grounding the energy of a Soul Punch in a mass grave was...inspired." But then he shook his head. "Useless, but well done."

"You cannot summon the dead from here, father." Michelle said sadly. "They were cut off from Orokin when they were slaughtered. They all died _alone_." Tears started to fall. "And there is a power beyond anything you know. Far, far beyond..." She opened her hands and the specter took them. Golden energy began to coalesce in between her hands. Michelle shook as she focused herself.

"I know more than you can possibly comprehend." Michael said with a feral grin. "And I can still access your power, girl!"

"I know." Michelle said calmly, focused on the golden shape that was forming in her hands. A skana. A simple blade. The first blade any Tenno trained with. Michael stared at it and then shook his head.

"Theatrics!" Michael declared and summoned more shadows. "They cannot help you." He threw soul energy at Crowley as well, his bolts flying like the lost souls they were.

"Oh, but they can." Crowley retorted with a smile, sweeping in a circle to slice through the shadows coming after Michelle. "They already have. I can tell these things you call are resisting your power, they are nothing more than you buying time!" He shouted, though for all his bravado Crowley could not deny his movements were taxed and his energy was waning.

"Indeed." Michelle said, her voice wavering as the skana popped into being and fell into her hands. "I am... not Tenno anymore... Master Crowley." She said, trying to rise, but fell back to her knees. "But even I can see that he is faltering. We can beat him. _You_ have lost, Michael. All _you_ are doing is prolonging the pain!"

"Shut up!" Michael screamed as a pair of shadows ran towards Michelle. But then the shadows stopped as they reached the area where she sat. They stopped and seemed to wail in grief. "What?" Michael demanded, his focus still on Crowley.

"There are more...powers than Orokin..." Michelle said weakly as she sank to her heels. She tried to rise again and made it to one knee before collapsing back. The specter by her side moved a bit away. "You..." She grunted in effort.

"You are weak!" Michael said with a snarl of triumph. "The power is mine!"

"Not today!" Michelle said as she threw the golden skana. Not at Michael! To Crowley!

The wails of the shadowy spirits made Crowley flinch, but even as his own sorrow mounted he knew he could not dwell on what would be. Dropping his Galatine the blue Nekros stretched his hand toward the golden blade to finish this for the princess.

Michelle was very weak. She had been hurt, drained and turned into a puppet. No one would have expected Tenno accuracy from her. But... She screamed in denial as the blade she had thrown arced _exactly_ the wrong way and landed in Michael's outstretched hand!

"You lose, Princess." Michael said with a smirk as he raised the blade to strike Crowley.

"Excuse me." A new voice froze everything.

Several sets of eyes turned to where a... a human was standing nearby. He hadn't been there a moment before! He looked...remarkably ordinary on first glance. But he wasn't. He had short blonde hair. He wore some kind of oddly patterned pants with big bulging pockets on both hips. Greens and browns were predominant. He wore a white collared shirt. But all that paled beside the drawn sword he had in his hand.

Michelle stared at the blade. It was unlike anything she had ever see, it was the length of a skana, but it wasn't curved. Or, well, it was, but not as much, only a gentle curve that ran the length of the blade. It had a single, obviously razor sharp edge. The guard, not a bump like a skana, was circular and ornately carved. And the blade was glowing _green_! Not with poison, but...

"Who the _hell_ are you?" Michael demanded, skana still upraised.

"No one of consequence." The man's voice was as odd as his appearance. There was no way for a human throat to make such a deep voice! Michael gaped at him and the man shrugged. "Sorry. I have _always_ wanted to say that." He grinned.

"You are all of you beneath me!" Michael screamed, undone by the man's humor. "I am an _Emperor_, you pathetic creatures and I refuse to be..." He froze as the man's sword snaked out, trapped the golden skana with an expert twist and tore from his grasp. It landed, obviously by plan, in _Crowley's_ outstretched hand. "Ah..."

"Puny Emperor." The man said calmly as he withdrew a step.

Even with his fading strength Crowley found himself invigorated as he grasped the skana, drawing back and pouring his energy into his arms and the blade. Dashing forward he kept the blade low to the ground as he drew close enough to touch Michael with his bare hands. "Off with your head!" He shouted as he brought the golden blade up in a perfect arc, slicing through Michael's neck neatly. It seemed such a perfect and thin cut that nothing on the opposing Nekros' person seemed disturbed in the slightest. The malicious smile on Crowley's face betrayed how much they had actually won. "Can you still move when your life hangs on the thread of the slightest twitch?"

"Good strike." The odd human -if he was one- commented as his sword vanished back into a scabbard that simply appeared at his side as he put the sword in.

"I..." Michael managed to say and then his head fell off. The golden power exploded from his form in a soundless fury. His head fell off and rolled upright. His mouth was moving. Somehow, without lungs, he was screaming.

Michelle collapsed in heap, pain flaring across her entire body as the purloined energy flowed back through her to its rightful place. She was too exhausted even to scream. But she could hear Michael screaming as the power grabbed his corpse and pulled him in, his body vanishing. She could hear him screaming as the forms of the dead he had enslaved took their vengeance. She wilted, done.

She was...done.


	19. Chapter 19

**To Pay A Debt**

Michelle gasped as Michael's screams faded away into nothingness. The specter of Mari bowed to her and vanished.

"Is...it...done, Master Crowley?" Michelle asked weakly. She couldn't move now. The pain had gone, but she couldn't move. Not a good sign.

Coming to stand by the princess, Crowley nodded solemnly as sorrow began to fill his being. The exhilaration and adrenaline of the final blow had faded much as Michael had. "It...is finished. Judgment has been passed...nothing will be left of even his soul soon." Biting his lower lip Crowley fell to his knees beside Michelle as cold, quiet tears streamed down his cheeks. "I can't save you...I'm so sorry...I have failed once more..."

"Not you, Master Crowley. I knew." Michelle said sadly. "I knew the moment that the crown activated -dunno how- that I was doomed." She smiled a bit sadly. "It had to be done. And the look on his face when it did was _priceless_." She chuckled and then shuddered and gasped. "Cold... I... I am afraid..."

Reaching out gently the keeper of the dead took Michelle's hand and looked into her eyes. "It is my most solemn promise to tend your funeral, milady. If you asked it, I would personally guard your tomb. None before has ever been so deserving of my service, and I will gladly give it to you." Bringing his head down he brought his cold forehead to touch the back of Michelle's hand, eyes closed so he wouldn't have to see.

"So... So much I wanted to do. Too late now. But... " Michelle said sadly, then her eyes traced to the odd figure who had interrupted Michael, disarmed him and allowed Crowley to strike. "Who...? Who _are_ you?" She asked carefully.

"A visitor." The human seeming being said calmly, hands folded in front of him. His posture was watchful, not hostile. He shook his head a little. "You are as they described." He said, his tone curious.

"What?" Michelle asked slowly. "Do I know you?"

"_We_ have never met." The man said with another shake of his head. "But you met a friend of mine. Halangrackin sends her regards." Michelle froze and the blonde haired man smiled fondly. "Yeah."

"Is... Is Michelle all right?" The princess asked. Blinking away his tears, confusion came across Crowley's face as he looked to Michelle for answers. He was not privy to her experiences in the other reality, merely what he had been told and what he had investigated which mainly pertained to Michael's transgressions.

"Better than all right." The man said with a nod. "She has done very well for herself. She wanted me to tell you... Her stepmom was a religious fanatic. She thought her stepdaughter was possessed by an evil demon and... well." He grimaced. "She wasn't a very _bright_ fanatic. So she tried to _beat_ the demon out of the girl. When that didn't work, she went further. The woman's hypnotism kept the girl from seeking help." Michelle winced at that and the man nodded. "Yeah. Halangrackin and Halbratina did _not_ take that lightly. They were... rather restrained under the circumstances. The stepmom _will_ get out of prison in a few years. But she will _never_ torture another girl again."

"Good. Stern but fair." Michelle said softly. "But... why are you here then?"

"Do you remember when the girl you helped told you she would pay the debt she owed you?" The man said gently. Michele stared at him and then nodded a little. "_That_ is why I am here." He said with a smile.

"I... I see."Michelle said with a sigh. "It's paid then."

"Not quite. You are dying. As the mind goes, so does the body." The human said with a sigh of his own. He looked at Crowley. "I don't like people who do what you do, but I might make an exception for you. You can't save her, can you?"

"I...I cannot save her. Even the strongest Trinity I once knew would not be able to save her with my help. The best I can do, regrettably, is ease her passing into the next life." Shaking his head Crowley closed his eyes again. "Even if I were not so weakened it would be all I could do for Michelle at this point."

"That scum called you 'Princess'?" The odd man asked. Michelle nodded shallowly, her breath labored and he nodded again. "Well, Princess... We _can_. But it will be the last time we can interfere here."

Snapping his head up the ice-blue eyes of Crowley met those of the strange visitor. "Are you aware of how unbalancing that suggestion is? Already our realities are unstable if what you say is true. To interfere further, especially stepping into the realm of the soul..." Despite what he said Crowley wanted more than anything to save the young life before him, to bear witness to survival rather than death.

"We are aware." The odd man replied, still calm "There is a _massive_ imbalance between your reality and ours due to the burden that _this_ brave woman took upon herself. Alone and in a strange world, she took it upon herself to save a young soul that she _didn't know_." The man said sternly. "The _least_ we can do is save her life. That will restore the balance."

"You... you can?" Michelle asked, scared.

"Not me." The man replied. "I am a soldier. I am trained to end lives, not save them. I have a highly skilled healer on standby. But if we _do_... What happens here must _remain_ here. No one must know what happens here. The boundary must not be breached again. If it is, the breach will be assumed hostile and dealt with accordingly." Michelle gulped a little and then she felt faint. His gaze sharpened. "Quickly, Princess. You are fading. Yes or no. Live or die. It is your choice. Not mine."

"Master Crowley?" Michelle pleaded. "I don't know... I want to live, but... I don't know..."

As he had done before in Michelle's dream Crowley made a sad smile and caressed gently over her cheek. His touch was cool, but not unpleasantly so. "Dear child...you have so much left to experience, so much left to live for even if you have ceased to be Tenno. I can sense the strong desires left in your heart, the many things you wish to do." He sighed, turning his head to look up at the stranger. "To defy death is a defiance of reality. Fair is fair...shut the breach if you can...and please...from the bottom of my ancient, withered, broken heart I beg you...save her."

"_That_ I understand all too well." The odd human said in matching sadness as he nodded and clapped his hands. The sharp sound was deafening. A shimmering blue globe appeared nearby and a very short cloaked form stepped out of it. She -yes, definitely a she- shook herself.

"That form of travel is awful." The short female said with a groan. She looked at the human and her voice was sour. "That is... _nasty_. How do you _do_ that?" The odd human shrugged and she sighed. She looked to where Michelle lay and nodded. "My name I am sworn to withhold. Yours is Michelle?" She asked kindly. Michelle stared and then nodded a little. "Are you in pain?"

"No." Michelle said sadly. "I _should_ be, but I am not."

"What happened?" The female asked the odd human who nodded.

"Progressive necromantic neural shock." The man said quietly. "The scum who hurt her was linked to her, draining her. They killed him while she was linked to him. He is dragging her down."

"Necromancers... yuck. But... That wouldn't cause _this_ much damage." The female said, kneeling beside Michelle's still form. Her hands shimmered as they traveled over Michelle's form.

"It was... He did it for a while..." Michelle said, gasping a little, her energy fading. "He pulled energy through me from a far more powerful source."

"I see. Conductive shock atop the other. Nasty." The odd female's hands were tiny, but strong as they touched Michelle's body gently and professionally. "Wow." She said, exhaling. "You are one _tough_ lady." She said with a gentle smile that was barely visible under her hood. She took Michelle's hands in her own.

"I don't know about...that...?" Michelle broke off, stunned as white light suddenly appeared around the strange woman's hands, enveloping her hands and spreading across her whole body. It felt... She gave a cry as... It didn't hurt! Pain had flared but... Suddenly every bit of her didn't hurt! She was floating on a sea of bliss. "I..."

"Easy." The woman said kindly. "Almost done. This last... pesky... nerve cluster..." She said absently. "And... that's it. That is all I can do." She said with another smile as the white light faded. "How do you feel?"

"I..." Michelle paused. She felt better. Off, but better. Not as weak. "What have you done?" She asked, stunned.

"I have repaired as much of the neural damage as I can. You won't die now. I can't heal you completely." The cloaked female said with a sigh. "I wish I could. The pain that you cannot feel calls to me."

"'Pain that I cannot feel'?" Michelle asked, fear rising. "What do you mean?"

"Lift your right hand." The woman said sadly. Michelle did, or, she _tried_. It didn't move. The woman sighed. "I am sorry. I did all I could."

"No one could have done more." The odd human male said softly. "You need to go home now."

"Not until I explain." The cloaked woman snapped. "And don't even _think_ about knocking me out." She waved a finger at him and he looked innocent. "You are _not_ fooling me." She turned back to Michelle, whose face was fearful. "Michelle... I did all I could. You won't die now." She soothed the hurt princess.

"What is wrong with me?" Michelle demanded. "I can't feel my right foot either!"

"The energy burned many of your nerves. You are partially paralyzed." The woman said, kneeling again to take both of Michelle's hands in her own. "I don't know if your medical knowledge is advanced enough to regenerate nerves or not..." She looked at Crowley.

Crowley had moved away in deference and reverence of the healer previously, but he nodded to her question. "What Orokin technology exists can do so...but it will take time." Hesitating, Crowley put his right hand over his heart with a warm smile. "Thank you...you have done more than any of us could have done." With a sigh, the blue Nekros let his shoulders sag as exhaustion too his body. "So many times I have had to watch dear ones die, experience their memories, and ever be unable to save them...I can easily say that just as the Orokin Empire is, I am in your debt strangers."

"Be careful saying things like that." The healer said with a smile. "You never know _who_ might be listening."

"Ma'am?" Michelle asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" The healer asked kindly. Michelle reached for the woman's hand with her left one and pulled it to her mouth. She kissed it and let go.

"Thank you." Michelle said quietly. "When you see the girl, Michelle... Tell her 'thank you' from me as well."

"I will." The woman said as she rose and tripped on her cloak. She caught herself but her hood fell, showing long black hair and... Long pointed ears. The rest of her features matched her ears. Angular, not human. "Aw crap..." She said with a wince. The odd human had tensed as well.

"Ah..." Michelle turned to Crowley. "I didn't see a thing, did you?"

Looking away and whistling for a moment Crowley had a mischievous grin on his face. "I'm sorry, was there an event I was supposed to be watching?" He chuckled as he looked over to Michelle with a knowing smile.

Both the human -if he was one- and the...elf relaxed.

"I can't take you _anywhere_, can I?" The human asked sourly. "Every _single_ time..."

"It's not _my_ fault. _You_ gave me this heavy cloak...Hard to move in this thing." The elven female said with a grin as she turned back to Michelle and Crowley. "I apologize for the attempted deception. We try to keep the reverberations to a minimum. I wish you well, Michelle. Seek a competent healer as soon as you may and you will almost certainly make a full recovery. I wish you a healthy and happy life." The blue globe appeared again and she swallowed heavily, then stepped into it and was gone.

"_Please_ don't tell anyone about this." The odd human said with sigh. "I am in enough trouble as it is without adding _reality tearing_ to my resume."

Shaking his head, Crowley rolled his eyes and materialized his Raknis helmet in his hands. "Just try and fix the breach if you don't mind. It will be a great step toward re-balancing our realities." Donning his helmet the guardian of the dead held out his hand toward Michelle. "I believe it's time to return, princess."

"One thing..." Michelle said with a nod. "And if it is presumptuous... tell me so. But you are not human. May I see your true form?" She asked the odd human who looked at her. "I mean no insult." She said quickly.

"None taken. The man smiled and suddenly where he had been standing, a huge silver scaled form crouched. It had four legs, a long serpentine tail and two wings that were folded over it's back. It's long fanged snout smiled at Michelle. Somehow she knew it was a gentle smile even if it was terrifying. Then, like a wisp of dream, the _dragon_ was gone.

"Wow." Michelle said softly, then nodded to Crowley. "Yes... We better go...home... Before any _other_ weirdness comes to say 'Hi'."

"Well...I must be exhausted...I just saw a dragon and an elf...might as well call me the Mad Hatter." Crowley commented, chuckling softly as both he and Michelle were enveloped in blue light taking them back to the waking realm.

* * *

Eliza was crying as Michelle swam back to consciousness. Michelle was lying on her stomach, her face to the metal floor. Her body felt...wrong, but it was functioning.

"Empress..." Alicia's voice was sharp. "You are bleeding. The arrow vanished when the shadows did, but... Let me tend your shoulder." She pleaded.

"Tend the others first, Trinity. Their wounds are graver." Eliza snapped, a command. "Michelle..." A slim hand touched on Michelle's shoulder. "Oh Michelle..."

"The ones we can save are being tended, Empress. Michelle lives." Alicia said formally. "I have no idea _why_. But she does. The power that was flowing through her..." Her voice held awe now. "It should have killed her."

"Michelle..." Eliza almost wailed. "I failed you again."

"Didn't. Tend the Empress." Michelle managed to get her mouth to work. Partly. Everything stopped around her at her slurred speech. She snarled weakly. "Tend the _Empress!_" She demanded.

"Michelle?" Eliza asked hesitantly. "What? What happened?"

"Dunno." Michelle said softly. "Let them tend you, mom. Orokin needs you right now." A familiar hiss sounded and Eliza gave a gasp of relief. "This floor tastes terrible." Michelle said after a moment. "Master... Crowley...?" Fear for her helper rose.

"I am functioning." Crowley managed to say, laying face-down on some steps his voice a little strained though his hand was raised pointing toward the ceiling to indicate his health. "And you're right, the floor tastes terrible. Unwaxed for decades I imagine." Coughing, the Nekros weakly grabbed at his helmet.

Gentle hands slowly eased Michelle onto her back. She stared up at... Michael's corpse hung above her impaled to the floor by an Orthos. Not Petras's Prime, this one was grey metal and it was ..._melted_. She shook her head. Eliza knelt beside her, tears still falling as the Empress of Orokin stared at her daughter, the blood on her front the only sign she has been hurt. Alicia stood nearby, her posture worried.

"What happened?" Michelle asked slowly.

"The energy flow slowed." Eliza said softly. "You fell and one of the Tenno threw his weapon to kill Michael. I..." She shook her head.

"He had no life signs but he was moving." A deep voice sounded from nearby as Karl appeared. "I wanted to be sure." He stared at the melted bade for a moment, his posture pensive. Then he turned to face Michelle and Eliza. "I am proud to have been of service, Empress, Princess." Karl said, bowing.

"_Stop!_" Michelle snapped, then coughed. "Tenno bow to _no one!_" She gasped as pain flared but she met his gaze fiercely. "And certainly never to _me!_ I serve Orokin! Do... not..." She shuddered. A gentle nudge came from within her and she smiled a bit sadly.

"Michelle..." Eliza said, worried. "Trinity?" She begged Alicia who came to Michelle's side, scanners whirring

"Princess Michelle..." Alicia said formally. "Your injuries are beyond the scope of battlefield medicine. You must rest. We will move you to healing."

"I need to do something first..." Michelle said softly. "Master Crowley... They... They wish to say something. Is it allowed?"

With a slow nod the blue-clad tenno took his time with standing since his energy was nearly spent. Struggling to get onto his feet Crowley settled for sitting on the steps, stretched a hand toward Michelle. Thin wisps of blue mist left Crowley's body to summon the four forms of the princess' sisters. Gasping as if lacking air Crowley clawed at his helmet this time, tearing it off and tossing it aside. His face was the same as when he'd been in Michelle's dream and her soul; it was no trick. Why someone so ancient as Crowley showed little sign of aging was a question best left for another time, though, as he poured more power into the shadows, breathing just enough life into them to let them speak.

"Do not strain yourself, Master Crowley." One of the shades stepped forward as Eliza gave a small cry. "We will not be long." Nisa's face was sad. "We are sorry, mother... We could not... We could not break the bonds that held us. We are sorry." All three of her ghostly siblings nodded.

"Nisa..." Eliza said, stunned."It wasn't your fault. If it was anyone's it was _mine_! I didn't _see..._" She broke off as Sina stepped forward.

"I beg to contradict an Empress." Sina said softly. "His plots were hidden. He was a consummate liar. He lied to _all_ of us and none of us even knew who he was. Not until... it was far too late. My arrow injured you, Empress Eliza, but the wounds that we all created were from long ago." She was crying. "We beg your forgiveness, Mother."

"There is naught to forgive." Eliza said softly. "I love you all. You are my daughters." Tears were falling from both Eliza's and Michelle's eyes now. All four shades were crying as well. "I love you."

"Thank you." Sina said sadly. She raised her face to look Michelle in the eyes. "Well done sister. We will wait for you and all of our kin." A hint of her old feistiness showed now. "But you better not come too soon or I _will_ kick your butt." All of sisters -including Michelle- smiled at that.

"I love you too, Sina." Michelle said with fondness. All four of her sisters saluted in the Tenno style and vanished.

"I..." Eliza began but froze as another spectral form suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. No, _two_.

Both were composed of golden energy. The dark haired male human wore something that looked sort of like a warframe with no helmet. He held a Glaive in hand. The female human... It was Mari! She was unarmed and unarmored, but all of Karl's Tenno hissed as they saw her. All of the Royal Guard Tenno had frozen in place on seeing the Glaive. It...wasn't a Tenno Glaive. Or, it was. But... not.

"Mari?" Karl asked, dumbfounded. Mari smiled but looked at the other.

"Just when I think all hope is lost." The newly come male said with a wide smile. "My kin and Talia's descendants surprise me yet again. Well _done_, Michelle." He looked at Crowley and smiled. "You left it open, old friend." Hayden Tenno said as his smile became a grin. "You never _used_ to be so sloppy."

Looking away, Crowley's face flushed with embarrassment as he hunched over a bit. "You have no room to talk, First One. Your steps faltered at times too, but maybe I'm just getting too old." Smiling as he chuckled the Nekros shook his head.

"Somehow..." Hayden Tenno just chuckled as well and nodded. "I _doubt_ that. Mari?" He patted her arm.

"Sensei." Mari said when Karl looked to her. "Let go of your regret. I chose my path. I walked my path. We will meet again." She said with a smile of her own. "Try to keep Cecelia out of trouble, please?"

"I am a Tenno..." Karl said, shocked out of his stoic resolve. "Not a god. But I will do my best."

"That is _all_ we have ever asked." The First Tenno said with a nod. "And it is _all_ that Tenno have ever given. Be well." He said calmly. Then he and Mari were gone.

Michelle turned to Crowley, but did not speak as the doors to the audience chamber opened and medics bustled in. Some secrets had to be kept. Some secrets _would_ be kept.


	20. Chapter 20

**Moving On**

"Just a little more, Princess Michelle." Petra said encouraging as Michelle lifted her right leg higher. "That's it..." She said quickly as Michelle held her leg up. "Hold it. Hold it..." Michelle made a grunting noise as she forced her muscles to obey. "Okay, let it down. Slow." The Mag Prime said quietly.

Less than a day had passed since the horrors in the audience chamber. Orokin medical technology had to be seen to be believed, but even Orokin tech took time to heal nerve damage. And then... the rest of it. Michelle wore a white garment that covered her for modesty purposes, provided limited support and some mobility assistance. A medical drone hovered nearby and _would_ for the foreseeable future. After being treated, Michelle had woken back in her room in the Royal Quarters. As soon as she had woken, Chirurgeon had come by with her mother and Michelle had been given instructions that Petra was enforcing with iron discipline.

"Anyone ever tell you that you are a sadist, Petra?" Michelle snapped as she laid her leg back down and slumped in her chair. "Physical therapy my _fanny_. This is _torture_!" She said with a gasp. Petra was unmoved.

"Now the arm." Petra commanded. Michelle groaned but Petra just shook her head. "Princess." She managed to put world of disapproval into that single word.

"I know." Michelle said with a sigh as she raised her right arm until it was level with her shoulder. She held it there even when it started to quiver. "Chirurgeon's orders are clear and supersede even _mother's_. Not that she _disagrees_ with him." Michelle said with a grunt of effort. "Still hurts."

"Be glad it _does_ hurt. It means the nerves are working again." Petra said with a sigh. "I thought you were dead. When you slumped to the floor, when Karl skewered the traitor, I didn't see life signs at first." She said, her tone very soft. Michelle paused in her exertions, arm still up. It quivered harder, but she held it.

"I didn't mean to scare you, Petra." Michelle said slowly. "But he had to be stopped."

"I know." Petra said with a nod. "It's just... You are not Tenno now, Princess Michelle. You don't have the protections we do. You did the right thing, but..." She slumped a bit.

"I have to remember others now." Michelle agreed quietly, still holding her arm up. "I cannot throw myself unto the breach anymore. Intellectually, I know this. It's still sinking in emotionally." Her arm started to shake and she snarled as she held it up.

"Time." Petra said calmly. Michelle gasped in relief as she lowered her arm back to her side. She sat, breathing hard for a moment and Petra stepped close to help her put her arm in the sling that had been rigged for it. "At least it isn't a tentacle anymore." Petra commented as she stepped back. Michelle made a fist and grimaced, but nodded.

"Petra..." Michelle said slowly. "I need your word on something." The guard looked at her. "Formal."

"What?" Petra asked suspiciously.

"I have been touched by Infested." Michelle said slowly. "And I touched the traitor's mind. I... I do not know if his madness was contagious or not." She trailed off as Petra moved to stand closer to her. "I... Don't let me be a threat to Orokin. Please?" Michelle begged.

"You are not." Petra said quietly, taking both of Michelle's hands in her own. "We, the Royal Guard, will watch, but we have no fear of you going mad."

"I _do_. I dreamed of my father, Petra." Michelle admitted. "When Chirurgeon worked on me, I... slept and dreamed. I dreamed of _him_." Petra sighed and nodded. "I know it's just delayed reaction, but... I need to know you will stop me if it comes to it."

"The Royal Guard stand ready, Princess Michelle." Petra said with a nod. "Do you wish a new guard?"

"What?" Michelle asked, dumbfounded. "_Why?_" She demanded.

"I failed." Petra said quietly. "I could not reach you." Michelle bit back her first statement and thought for a moment before replying.

"How many?" Michelle asked the Mag Prime. Petra looked at her and Michelle pressed. "How many shadow Tenno were you fighting? When the traitor died and they faded?"

"When they faded... Four." Petra admitted a bit ruefully. "But I should have..." She stilled as Michelle laid a hand on her arm.

"Petra." Michelle said gently. "When we fought in Karl's dojo, you _didn't_ know how to fight me. You needed me alive, but... You had never faced an opponent like me, had you?"

"I..." The Mag Prime stiffened.

"Had you ever been outside this facility, Petra?" Michelle asked gently. Petra shook her head. "I see. You trained, you studied, you sparred with the other Royal Guard. But it is not the same as actual combat experience. I had the same shock when I finished my own training. My first fight was a wake up. It's not the same."

"No. It's not. The older guards all told me, but I did not understand. I was born here." Petra said in a monotone. "My family were all Tenno. I knew, from the first moment I can remember, what I wanted to do."

"To be Tenno." Michelle said quietly. "And from what I saw? You are a good Tenno." The princess said with a smile. "Four to one is not good odds, and you held your own."

"But..." Petra stammered a bit, undone by Michelle's compassion and understanding.

"Petra, I _lived_ through the Collapse." Michelle said sadly. "Don't talk to me about _failing_ when you and I are both alive. Don't." She warned the Tenno. "You did well." She quirked a grin at the Tenno. "Are we going to argue?"

"More than likely." Petra said with a rueful chuckle. "But not right now."

"Good." Michelle said as she rose slowly to her feet. It felt...wrong still. The nerves would take a bit to regain their previous speed. The suit that Michelle wore would act as a light weight support as well as covering. Petra hovered, but did not offer assistance and Michelle appreciated her guard's courtesy. "I trust you, Petra." Michelle said quietly. "If you could have reached me, I know you would have done what was needed." Petra bowed her head and Michelle shook hers. "And I would have thanked you through _eternity_." She went stiff as Petra's faceplate retracted. The red skinned woman had tears falling.

"Don't scare me like that again, princess." Petra begged. "Please?"

"Petra..." Michelle said kindly, stepping close and taking the Tenno's arm in a gentle and easily broken grip with her good hand. "I know that if _you_ do it, it will be needed. It will be quick, clean and as painless as you can make it. I trust you." She repeated and shook the Tenno gently. "I need you, Petra. Please." She begged.

"I... I swear I will serve the Royal Family." Petra said quietly. "I will watch. I will ward. I will oversee. If it... becomes needed,... I will act."

"Thank you." Michelle said with a sigh as she stepped back. "Now, _we_ are needed." Petra's helmet shut and she nodded.

The mismatched pair walked to the door, followed by the medical drone. Michelle wouldn't be wearing gowns again soon if the healers had anything to say about it. They wanted rapid access to her nerves if needed. Michelle was amazed at how fatigued she was. She had been hurt before, often badly. But never had she felt so... weak. It had been the warframe -she knew that -but it didn't lessen the feelings of embarrassment as Petra slowed to stay with Michelle's steps. At least she wasn't staggering. She braced herself a bit as they turned a corner and two Royal Guard appeared ahead, warding a door. An Ash Prime and a Saryn Prime. Petra led Michelle to that door and paused as the guards crossed their Orthos ceremonially.

"Princess Michelle to see the Empress." Michelle said calmly. "I am expected."

"You are." The Ash said with a nod. "Pass, Princess." He said as he and his companion raised their spears into a salute. Michelle started for the door again, but paused.

"Petra?" Michelle asked when the guard did not follow.

"It's private." Petra said with a nod. "I will be here when you leave."

"Petra." Michelle snapped. "Correct me if I am wrong. You are my guard, yes?" Petra nodded as the other Royal Guards looked at them. "And you job is to _guard_ me, yes?" Petra nodded again. "So how can you do that _standing_ out in the corridor?" She demanded.

"Ah..." Petra gulped.

"She has got you there, Guard Captain." The Saryn said, a wicked laugh hiding in her tone. "Better give in gracefully, Ma'am."

"Don't you 'Ma'am' me, Gidasai." Petra snapped. "We are the same rank."

"_Are_ we?" The Saryn replied, but keyed the door open before Petra could think of a rejoinder.

Michelle started off, aware of the Mag Prime now following her. She smiled at the Saryn, who gave her a fractional nod. Then she was in the large room. At least, it felt large at first, but a number of people stood around a table, all of whom looked up as Michelle entered the room. Four Royal Guards were arrayed by the door. Eliza stood to one side of the table, she had obviously been talking to Grand Master Crowley before Michelle had entered. Karl stood a bit apart with Will, Alicia and Two. All still wore their warframes, but none carried weapons and all had their helmets undone. Two male humans in civilian attire stood next to the table. The door closed behind her and Petra.

"Michelle!" Eliza's face was radiant as she looked at her daughter. "All done?"

"For now." Michelle said sourly. "Your evil minions will no doubt descend on me again and make me do more therapy all too soon." She walked to her mother and bowed her head. "Pardon, Empress."

"This counts as private, Princess." Eliza said sternly. "Stuff a _sock_ in it!" She said with a smile as laughter erupted around the table. Michelle felt her cheeks heat, but she nodded. Eliza smiled but it faltered. "Do you need a chair?"

"I am okay as long as I don't try to move too fast, Mom." Michelle said with a sigh. "Standing is good. I do need to keep in shape."

"Begging your pardon, Princess..."A white haired man at the table said kindly. "No one will notice. Your beauty will dazzle all eyes." He winked at her. Michelle blushed bit at that.

"Don't start flirting with my daughter while I am in the _room_, Prime Minister Norsis." Eliza said with a grin. "At least wait until I _leave_!" A polite laugh circulated at that and She nodded to Michelle. "Yes, he is the head of our government."

"Prime Minister." Michelle said, nodding. "I need to find out more about everything, so I will be asking lots of questions."

"Smart girl." The elderly human said with a nod. "But..." He turned to Eliza. "I understand your feelings, Empress... We owe the Tenno everything." He nodded to Karl and Crowley. "That is not in question by anyone with sense. But... Do we have the wherewithal to aid the Tenno openly in their war with the Grineer?" A murmur went around the room. Karl and Crowley looked stoic. The other Tenno's faces were unreadable as well.

"This isn't right!" The man spoke up from the side. This one was younger, and his look at Michelle made her feel funny. "We can't just _hide_ here while the few remnants of humanity die alone in the darkness!"

"I agree." Eliza said with a nod as she strode back to the table a place opened for Michelle and she joined her mother. Michelle stiffened as she realized the table held a holo of the Sol system, each planet highlighted. "But what _can_ we do? The Royal Guard are good, but we have less than two hundred left. And less than half of _those_ have combat experience." Eliza shook her head. "Throwing them away against the Grineer piecemeal would be at best a waste and worst...treason." At the word 'treason', everyone winced. "Sorry... I am...upset." Eliza said sadly.

"No one blames you, Empress Eliza." The man who had spoken last said quietly. "We all know that Artos saved you during the Collapse."

"He kicked me in the _tail_ until I moved despite the hole in my gut. He picked me up and carried me here when I couldn't move any further." Eliza's voice held fondness and sadness in equal measure. "He will be missed." A murmur of agreement went around the table. "But..." She turned to Michelle. "Michelle? What do you think?"

"I..." Michelle stared at the holo and shook her head. "The Grineer, Corpus and Infested are huge threats. Right now, they are fighting each other and Tenno are striking when and as they can to protect, to distract, and to disrupt. This is how Tenno fight. The Lotus..." She broke off as everyone around the table went still. "You know who she is, don't you?"

"Michelle." Eliza said quietly. "Some secrets must be kept." Michelle's eyes went to Crowley who nodded just a little. Michelle decide to drop it.

"I understand." Michelle said calmly. Boy, did she. She shook herself. "Anyway, the Tenno who serve the Lotus are working to curb the Grineer threat. They are working to keep the Corpus' insane quest for technology that they cannot understand or control from fruition. They are working to keep the Infested from overrunning everything. That is what I did until this madness began. There are only so many targets that Tenno can strike with a reasonable chance of success. I do not see how two hundred, or even two _thousand_ more Tenno would change that. The Grineer number in the billions and their numbers are growing daily. The Infested likewise. For all their insanity, the Corpus are human. I..." She shook her head. "I don't see the Royal Guard making that much a difference before their numbers are whittled down by attrition." She smiled an apology at Petra who nodded. "What logistic base do you have?"

"The solar collectors powering the station provide us with a substantial surplus of power." The man who had been speaking said with a nod. "The rest we recycle."

"I did not get your name." Michelle said quietly.

"Oh..." The man flushed. "I apologize, Princess Michelle. I am Robert Jindas, Secretary of Resources."

"Secretary Jindas." Michelle nodded. "No offense was taken. This is all... very new."

"And you are hurt." The man said with a kind smile.

"I will survive. Thank you for your concern." Michelle said with a smile. Inside she was amazed. Was she _flirting_ with this man? She looked at her mother and Eliza smiled a bit. Michelle shook herself. "So, you have scant resources, but ample power. What databases do you have?"

"Lots. They were backing up the Archives on Earth when the Collapse hit." Jindas said quietly. "We haven't actually had the chance to peruse all the files." Michelle's eyes went wide. "Yes, that many." Jindas said with a nod. "At last count we had two hundred and thirty seven yottabyes worth of data stored."

"Yotta...bytes...?" Michelle asked weakly. "As in one thousand to the eighth power?"

"Yes." Jindas said with a nod. "They meant this facility as a full backup. Our actual storage capacity is about three times that." More than one of Karl's Tenno exclaimed with Michelle. "That is less than a tithe of what the original Archives held. They didn't finish the backup for obvious reasons." He shrugged. "The defragmentation of each of the main hard drives takes a year."

"Holy..." Michelle shook her head, stunned. But then she stiffened. "You know...?" She mused.

"What, Michelle?" Eliza asked.

"This place is self contained." Michelle said calmly. "But you could use more resources." Jindas perked up a bit at that, but Michelle shook her head. "Getting them will be dangerous. This place is a refuge. Maybe... It should remain one?" She said to Eliza who looked at her.

"Much of our heavier equipment is built into the facility and cannot be moved." Eliza said, thinking hard. "The experimental device that healed your arm, for example." Michelle stared at her mother and the at her arm. "It was needed." Eliza apologized.

"I know." Michele said with a smile. "And have nothing but gratitude for you and Chirurgeon." She looked to Karl. "And you, Karl of the Tenno..." She bowed her head. "Once more I am in your debt."

"You owe us nothing, Princess." Karl said quietly. "Any true Tenno would be honor bound to stop such as that traitor."

"You and your clan have saved me three times now, Karl of the Tenno." Michelle said with a shake of her head. "And you would accept _nothing_?" Two jerked and Karl looked at her for a moment before looking back at Michelle who raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You have children here?" Karl asked softly. Michelle looked at Eliza who nodded, a bit dubious. "We have a pregnant Tenno in our midst and I know of another who needs help."

"Serene?" Michelle asked, worried. "What has happened?"

"Nothing, yet." Karl said quietly. "But Iriana and the tower staff are worried. Serene's depression is growing despite everything Iriana can do. She needs help." Michelle glanced at Eliza who looked thoughtful.

"We can do that. We must maintain our secrecy to remain safe." Eliza said with a nod. "But we can and will assist when and where possible while maintaining our secrecy. In the hopes that one day, this war will be over and we can all take our places in the light again."

"May that day come soon, Empress Eliza." Karl said, nodding. He glanced at his Tenno and they turned to go.

"Tenno Karl..." Petra said softly and Karl stopped. "You were unweaponed protecting my charge." Eliza stared at the Royal Guard and then smiled a bit mischievously. Michelle glanced suspiciously at her mother, but Eliza's face smoothed into patient curiosity. "With your permission, Empress?" Petra asked formally.

"I do not command Tenno." Eliza said calmly. "I suggest, or advise. I am not stupid enough to try and _command_ you."

A snort went up from the men at the table. Petra nodded and slowly reached up to draw her Orthos Prime. She held it horizontal to the ground with both hands, striding to Karl and extending it.

"This weapon has served my family with honor for millennia." Petra said quietly. "I would be honored if you would bear it now in the defense of the inhabitants of this solar system."

"I..." Karl stared at the long white and golden weapon. He bowed hi s head and took it. "I would be honored to bear it, Captain Petra." Petra gave him a short bow and stepped back as he placed it on his back.

"And that leaves _you_ unweaponed, Petra." Eliza said with a strange bubble of amusement in her voice. Michelle turned to look at her mother. "We cannot have that. Our Guard Commander must not be unarmed." One of the Royal Guard -an Excalibur Prime- near the door stepped forwards, a familiar huge sword in hand.

"But Empress...I..." Petra froze as Eliza's words sank in. "Guard... Commander...?" She asked faintly. "But I am... Michelle..." She begged.

"You will continue to serve my daughter." Eliza said, her tone becoming formal. "But you are Artos' chosen successor." Petra froze as the Royal Guard stepped up to her and held out the huge Galantine sword that Artos had carried. "And mine own choice as well, for all the good that did with you stubborn Tenno."

"I am unworthy." Petra said, not daring to move.

"_We_ disagree." The Tenno said as he held the sword out to her. "Take up your rank, Guard Commander."

"I...serve." Michele was smiling as Petra hefted the huge blade and seeming without effort, placed it on her back. She inclined her head to the Empress. "Resume your post." She said calmly to the Tenno. "I will wish to speak with you, Tenno Karl, about possibly training some of our number in actual combat conditions."

"We can talk later, Guard Commander Petra." Karl said formally, but his eyes were twinkling. "Empress, Princess, Grand Master Crowley?" All three nodded and Karl smiled and left the room with his Tenno following.

"Guard Commander." Michelle said with a hint of teasing. "Should I salute?"

"If you do, I will thrash you." Petra said calmly. Michelle smiled, but desisted. "Or even better, I will make you listen to the suitors _attempts_ at music."

"Ah... Suitors?" Michelle asked, feeling faint.

"Michelle..." Eliza said gently. "One duty of any monarch is to protect the line of succession." Michelle stared at her and Eliza smiled a bit forlornly. "I can't. You must."

"You have got to be kidding." Michelle said, her face ashen.

"Gentlemen..." Eliza said with a nod. "I think I need to have a long talk with my daughter." Both of the civilians nodded and left the room. Grand Master Crowley smiled and left the room as well. "Michelle, we need an heir. Soon. " Eliza said calmly as Michelle stared at her, stunned. "You like Jindas? He _is_ cute."

_"Mother...!"_ But Michelle had the feeling that her day was going to go downhill, quickly. At least she wasn't sinking into madness anymore.

"I want a grandkid or two." Empress Eliza of Orokin said in a tone that brooked no argument.

_Maybe_ Michelle wasn't going mad...

**The End **

** for now...**


End file.
